Sonia slams Modi govt's 'silence' on Gaza, says stance hurts India's strategic interests

Congress Parliamentary Party Chairperson Sonia Gandhi on Saturday (June 27) launched a sharp attack on the Narendra Modi government, accusing it of maintaining "stony silence" over what she described as Israel's "Gaza genocide" despite mounting global outrage. She argued that New Delhi's response was not only morally indefensible but also ran counter to India's strategic interests.

Targets Centre's stance

In an opinion piece published in The Indian Express, Sonia said the Centre's approach had weakened India's standing in the region by distancing it from long-standing partners such as Palestine, Iran and other countries across West Asia. She also claimed the government's position had left room for Pakistan to project itself as a potential mediator.

Sonia also questioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi's diplomatic outreach to Israel, describing his visit ahead of the US-Israel joint attack on Iran as a "bewildering strategic decision".

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She wrote that India's historical values and foreign policy traditions required the country to speak out against the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. The Congress leader argued that national interest demanded a response in line with growing international condemnation of Israel's actions, citing what she called the regime's "genocidal actions" in Gaza and its "brutal displacement and dispossession of lakhs of Palestinian families in the occupied West Bank".

“The Modi government’s continued silence simply cannot be explained rationally or morally,” she stated.

Refers to UN reports

In September 2025, the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory concluded that Israeli authorities were committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, she said.

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In June 2026, the same commission, now headed by Justice (retired) S Muralidhar, a distinguished Indian jurist, has poignantly reiterated that Israeli actions are intended to destroy the very existence of the Palestinians in Gaza by targeting their children, Sonia said.

Children in focus

“The 94-page report is a harrowing read, with grim details on the extent of the devastation perpetrated by Israel in Gaza and the genocidal intent underpinning its actions. At least 20,000 children have been killed, and another 44,000 have been wounded, many for life,” said Sonia.

The targeting of children is not incidental, but a deliberate strategy, she asserted.

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“Twenty-seven per cent of those killed or wounded have been children and many of the boys were found with bullets on the head and neck. Ninety-seven per cent of Gaza’s schools have been destroyed,” said Sonia.

Healthcare infrastructure, including paediatric hospitals, has been destroyed, resulting in a 300 per cent increase in miscarriage and childbirth complications, Sonia said.

Slams Israeli leadership

In the two-and-a-half years since the "dastardly, horrific, and absolutely unacceptable attack" by Hamas on Israel, it has become clear that the retaliation of the Israeli armed forces and political leadership has been characterised by "wanton cruelty and barbarity", she added.

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“Senior Israeli leaders, down from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his senior cabinet colleagues themselves, have called for the ‘complete siege’ and ‘total annihilation’ of Gaza, denounced the Palestinians as ‘animals’ who have ‘no right to exist’, and defined success for Israel as ‘hundreds of thousands fleeing Gaza’,” Sonia said.

Questions US backing

Despite this clear “genocidal intent”, the support of President Donald Trump’s government in Washington DC has enabled the Israeli government to continue its “brutal campaign” against Palestinians, she said, adding that the rest of the world has felt the pricking of its conscience.

The UN has been unable to act with any resolve due to American obstruction, but through its agencies it has played a stellar role in the documentation of Israeli war crimes, she said.

(With agency inputs)