India may be supplying Israel weapons to ‘return a favour’, claims former ambassador

India may be supplying weapons to Israel for its war in Gaza as a way of “returning the favour” for Israeli assistance during the 1999 war with Pakistan, according to a former envoy.

Daniel Carmon who served as Israel’s ambassador to India from 2014 to 2018 made the comments in an interview to leading Israeli publication Ynetnews.

His comments came amid reports that India has been supplying drones and munitions for Israel’s military campaign to eradicate Hamas. India has neither confirmed nor denied the reports.

“The Indians always remind us that Israel was there for them during the Kargil war. Israel was one of the few countries that stood by them and provided them with weapons,” Mr Carmon said.

“The Indians don’t forget this and might now be returning the favour,” he said.

Mr Carmon was referring to the brief high-altitude war between India and Pakistan in the Kargil region of Jammu and Kashmir between May and July 1999. During that period Israel helped India by providing crucial military supplies and equipment, including precision-guided munitions and surveillance drones.

In May, Spain refused to allow ships carrying arms to Israel from India to call at its ports, the country’s foreign minister said, in keeping with its commitment not to “contribute to war”.

In February, a number of Indian media reports said Delhi had supplied Israel with advanced Hermes 900 drones manufactured in Hyderabad. The drones were produced at a facility originally set up by the Israeli military to supply the Indian military, but the reports said 20 drones were converted to be used by the Israeli Defence Forces after Israel’s own supplies ran low.

India has refrained from directly calling out Israel for its actions in Gaza and longstanding ties between the two countries have strengthened under the Narendra Modi government. The Indian foreign ministry has called for a ceasefire to be agreed, however, as well as expressing its support for a two-state solution .

Claims that India is exporting weapons to Israel have triggered protests back home, amid concern among the Indian public about supporting a military campaign that has killed more than 37,000 Palestinians, many of them women and children, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip.

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu began the operation against Hamas following the 7 October terror attack that killed 1,200 people and took more than 250 captive.

India has been open about another form of support for Israel – recruiting and dispatching thousands of workers to bolster Israel’s economy after the Netanyahu government banned tens of thousands of Palestinian workers.