Hamas attack led to strategic shifts & realignments in Arab world: Experts

AS the four-day truce in the Israel-Hamas ceasefire begins, there are, as war correspondents say, new facts on the ground, and some altered ways of looking at them. Anil Trigunayat, a former ambassador of India to Jordan and Libya; former ambassador and West Asia expert Bhadra Kumar, and South Asia bureau chief of the Syrian Arab News Agency, Waiel S H Awwad, shared their views in a panel discussion on the 'War on Gaza', organised by the Indian Women's Press Corps in Delhi on Friday.

- PARAMITA GHOSH

The October 7 Hamas attack on Israel and the latter's relentless military damage had "changed the game" and will force the world to relook the situation in Palestine as something more than a 'Gaza problem', said Awwad.

Trigunayat reiterated India's "consistent position" on the two-state solution and that in the Arab world, things were changing. "From the Indian point of view, West Asia is 'very important' for energy and maritime security, diaspora... but after being on the backburner for last 20 years on Palestine issue, the Arab street is now recharged," he said.