We welcome every step that leads to peace: India on 10-day Lebanon-Israel ceasefire

India on Friday welcomed the recently implemented a 10-day ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon, saying it welcomes every step that leads towards peace.

Addressing his weekly media briefing in New Delhi, Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal stated, “We welcome the ceasefire. We welcome every step that leads towards peace.”

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India’s official statement came after the US President Donald Trump on Thursday announced a ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon aimed at bringing a temporary cooling-off along another front linked to the Iran conflict.

In response to another media query about Israel requesting India to designate Hamas as a terrorist organisation and India’s policy about disarming Hamas, Jaiswal stated, “We have a process in place, and those issues are addressed under that process.”

During the briefing, the MEA spokesperson mentioned that India is also providing support to its neighbouring countries as per their request to meet their energy needs.

“We have received requests from several of our neighbours, asking to provide energy resources. We are already providing energy resources to many countries. However, this is being done keeping in mind our own needs and the availability of our resources here,” Jaiswal stated.

“We provided Bangladesh with 22,000 metric tons of high-speed diesel in March. Regarding Sri Lanka, we sent 38,000 metric tons of petroleum products to them last month. A week ago, our Foreign Minister visited Mauritius. During that time, discussions took place between the two countries on this issue, and we are currently in the process of finalising a government-to-government agreement between the two countries to improve Mauritius’ energy situation and provide it with oil and gas,” he said.

The MEA spokesperson stated that there are existing agreements between Nepal and India, one between the Indian Oil Corporation and Nepal, under which “we provide petroleum products to them, and these are being provided to them according to their needs, without interruption”.

“Similarly, with Bhutan, we have an understanding and a partnership. We are also providing energy to them regarding energy products,” Jaiswal said.

“Regarding Mauritius and Seychelles, we have received some requests from them, and we are in constant dialogue with them on this matter,” he said.