Israel's response to Hamas 'gone too far' but severing diplomatic ties won't resolve the situation: Singapore govt

The Singapore government on Thursday said Israel's military response to the October 7 Hamas attack has ''gone too far'' but severing diplomatic ties with the Jewish nation would not resolve the situation nor would reduce the sufferings of the Palestinians.

''We manage our international relations by remaining engaged with the international community and maintaining ties with as many countries as possible...this is in Singapore's national interests as a small country,'' Minister for Foreign Affairs Vivian Balakrishnan told Parliament, responding to lawmakers questions on the Israel-Hamas war while laying out his ministry's budget spending plans for the year.

Addressing calls for Singapore to sever diplomatic ties with Israel over its actions, Balakrishnan said this was not the right way forward.

Breaking ties with a country whose actions Singapore disapproved of would not be ''constructive'' nor would it change the situation on the ground, nor ''will it influence Israel to suddenly change its policies or will it necessarily immediately reduce the suffering of the Palestinians,'' he said.

The minister noted that none of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, or Arab countries like Egypt and Jordan, has severed their ties with Israel.

The Israel-Hamas war began after the Palestine-based militants stormed across Israel on Oct 7, killing 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking about 250 others hostage.

According to the Gaza Health Ministry, over 30,000 Palestinians have been killed so far in attacks carried out by Israel. The ministry does not distinguish in its count between fighters and non-combatants. Israel claims it has killed 10,000 Hamas militants.

Balakrishnan said Singapore condemned the Oct 7 attack by Hamas and recognised Israel's right to self-defence, similar to how Singapore would invoke the same right should the country have been attacked.

However, at the same time, he said, ''Unfortunately, Israel's military response has gone too far. The catastrophic situation in Gaza demands an immediate humanitarian ceasefire to alleviate the unbearable suffering of the civilian victims and to enable humanitarian assistance to reach them immediately.'' On whether relations with Israel have been affected by Singapore's position, Balakrishnan said it maintained good ties with both Israel and the Palestinian Authority, Channel News Asia reported.

''All sides know that Singapore will always speak our minds. Not provocatively, but because these are dearly held principles that we uphold and that we will continue to maintain these positions, guided by Singapore's long-term national interests and our unique circumstances,'' he said.

The minister also cautioned against thinking of the conflict along religious lines.

''Religion is actually a veneer covering the heart of the conflict. What is the heart of the conflict? It's an age-old conflict, a fight over land, over identity, over power,'' he said, adding that the issue went back centuries, even thousands of years," ''The Israelis and Palestinians are both Semitic tribes who have been fighting over the same sliver of land for such a long time,'' Balakrishnan said, adding that it was not possible for Singapore, as an outsider, to determine which party had a stronger historical claim.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)