Is India supplying arms to Israel? ‘Third party vendors’ more likely at play

Experts also doubt the possibility that India has any direct involvement in providing weapons to Israel, citing Delhi’s comparatively unsophisticated weapons technology and logistical difficulties.

Spanish Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares Bueno said earlier this month that the Danish-flagged ship, the Marianne Danica, had requested permission to dock at Cartagena on May 21 but was denied after it was found to be carrying 21 tonnes of explosives from Chennai, with port authorities citing a policy against ships carrying Israeli arms and military cargo.

However, experts said the likelihood that the explosives from India were meant to be used by Israel as weapons of war is highly unlikely.

“What is happening in Gaza is hand-to-hand fighting, a war of attrition, and targeted bombing, which is inhuman. But they don’t require Indian weapons or intelligence because it involves high-precision bombing,” said Pushpesh Pant, former dean of the School of International Studies at New Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru University.

Pant also cited the “long supply chain involved” as a reason to doubt that India is covertly supplying weapons to Israel, with shipments to Israel being tightly controlled by both land and sea blockades.

Right now, the notion that India was supplying arms to Israel was “only an allegation”, Pant said.

Israeli troops are currently pursuing Hamas militants in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, despite calls from the US, EU and other countries to curb the attacks to protect civilians in the area.

On Wednesday, India’s Ministry of External Affairs spokesman, Randhir Jaiswal condemned the loss of civilian lives due to an Israeli strike in Rafah as “heartbreaking” and called for respecting international humanitarian law in the