New Delhi: India on Wednesday (May 15) said it was “deeply saddened” over the death of former Indian army officer colonel Waibhav Anil Kale in a UN vehicle in Gaza, but refrained from acknowledging the UN’s assertion of his killing by an Israeli tank and also omitted any call for the protection of civilians and humanitarian workers in conflict zones.On Monday morning, Kale was killed and his Jordanian colleague was injured when their UN-marked vehicle was struck while they were travelling to the European hospital in Rafah.While the UN had announced the casualty on Monday, his identity was formally disclosed during Tuesday’s media briefing.A day later, India issued a statement on Kale’s killing.“We are deeply saddened by the death of Colonel Waibhav Anil Kale (Retd), Security Coordination Officer in the UN Department of Safety and Security (DSS) in Gaza on 13 May 2024. We extend our heartfelt condolences to his family and dear ones,” said the press communique from the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA).The short statement noted that India’s three missions to the UN, Israel and Palestine were extending all assistance to bring his mortal remains back to India.It concluded by stating that India continues to be “in touch with relevant authorities regarding the investigation into the incident”.The UN had set up a “fact-finding panel” which is verifying the details of the incident with the Israel Defence Forces (IDF), deputy spokesman for the UN Secretary-General Farhan Haq said on Tuesday.He stated that it was clear that “a weapon appears to have impacted the back of a white UN vehicle, carrying two UN staff members, killing one and injuring another”.In answer to a query, the UN spokesperson also clarified that there was little question that the ‘weapon’ which killed Kale had come from the Israeli side, but that talks with Tel Aviv were ongoing to understand why it happened.“I think the point is we are in discussion with Israel to determine exactly how this incident happened and the nature of what happened. I don’t think at this stage we are in doubt about where the shots came from as much as what the circumstances were,” he said.To a question on where the ‘shots’ emanated from, Haq replied: “We believe it came from a tank in the area”.A January report from the Washington-based conservative think tank Foundation for Defense of Democracies noted that use of tanks has been critical in the IDF’s military campaign in the latest Gaza war.The Israeli military had stated that as per a preliminary investigation, the vehicle was struck in an “active combat zone”.While not taking responsibility, the IDF also claimed it was not informed of the vehicle’s planned route.In contrast, the UN asserted it had informed Israeli authorities in advance about the vehicle’s movements.The MEA’s statement was not just striking in its brevity, but also in its omission – it referred to Kale’s “death” but did not mention that he was killed in an attack on his vehicle.Last month, three foreign nationals from Poland, Australia and the United Kingdom died when the aid convoy of the World Central Kitchen humanitarian group was attacked by Israeli military drones.It sparked a diplomatic spat between Tel Aviv and Warsaw, with Poland summoning the Israeli ambassador to hand over a strong protest note.The Israeli envoy reportedly apologised, as per the Polish deputy minister, but the former denied it.Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese spoke directly with his Israeli counterpart and had publicly termed the death of the Australian national as “completely unacceptable”.Australia had also asked the Israeli ambassador to provide an explanation for the targeting of the aid convoy.The United Kingdom’s foreign office had also summoned the Israeli ambassador in London, while there were statements of condemnation from both UK prime minister Rishi Sunak and foreign secretary David Cameron over the killing of three British nationals.On October 7, the Palestinian militant group Hamas killed around 1,200 people in Israel and took 252 people hostage.Subsequently, over 35,000 people, mainly women and children, have lost their lives in Israel’s military actions in Gaza.India’s first reaction after Hamas’s October 7 attack was Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s expressing “solidarity” with Israel.However, it had to nuance its position subsequently as the extent of the Israeli military operations became evident.New Delhi maintained that it was against any terror attacks, but also repeated its position on supporting the Palestinian cause.India also consistently stated that the “large-scale loss of civilian lives” in Gaza has been “completely unacceptable”.While it is not surprising that India is not directly pointing fingers at Israel, it is also notable that there is no mention of previously used phrases for the death of civilians, including humanitarian workers.As one of the largest UN troop contributors, India has suffered casualties in dozens of missions across the world. Therefore, New Delhi had always been sensitive to any assaults on UN peacekeepers, who are essentially Indian personnel operating under UN auspices to maintain peace in conflict zones.Similarly, Waibhav Kale, although not deputed by the Indian government, was also an Indian national working in a UN mission.In July 2022, two Indian peacekeepers were killed when the base of the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo was overrun by a violent mob.External affairs minister S. Jaishankar had said that the “perpetrators of these outrageous attacks must be held accountable and brought to justice”.India had also convened a special meeting of the UN Security Council (UNSC) to discuss the attack on the peacekeepers in Congo.Speaking to The Wire, former Indian permanent representative to the United Nations, T.S. Tirumurti, described Kale’s killing in Gaza as “unacceptable”.“Just as India has called civilian killings in Gaza as “unacceptable”, even more so is the death of an Indian national working under the UN flag. In fact, it was India sponsored UN Security Council resolution 2589 under its presidency in August 2021, which was unanimously adopted, which called for accountability for killing of and all acts of violence against UN peacekeeping personnel,” he said.“We need accountability in this case as well and not mere expression of condolences from the UN and the perpetrators.”Tirumurti was referring to India’s first resolution it pushed through the Council in decades being about “protecting the protectors” – to seek accountability for crimes committed against UN peacekeepers while on duty.The importance of this platform for India was underlined by Jaishankar presiding over the meeting of the Council that adopted this resolution.At the end of India’s two-year term at the UNSC, Jaishankar was again in New York during the December 2022 presidency to launch the Group of Friends of UNSC resolution 2589.“It is important that Member States, peacekeeping mission commands, and the Secretariat insist on a timely investigative process and help host States by providing them necessary expertise, resources, and political encouragement to make the ‘rule of law institutions’ capable of promoting accountability and delivering justice,” he said.According to another retired Indian ambassador, Amar Sinha, the Indian statement on Kale’s killing should have referred to the need for all sides to ensure the protection of workers of international agencies, including the UN.“[The] MEA statement strikes the right notes but it looks a bit incomplete. Even wars have rules and [the] UN and other international agencies are not a participant and all sides in a conflict are duty bound to respect that neutrality and ensure that they are not attacked.“I am yet to see any regret expressed by the erring party. This aspect is important, since India is a major contributor of troops and personnel to UN operations including peacekeeping,” Sinha told The Wire.Another former Indian foreign service officer, who did not want to be identified, pointed out that according to legal treaty obligations outlined in Articles 104 and 105 of the Charter, UN member states are required to take measures to safeguard UN personnel.On his X (formerly Twitter) account, former Indian ambassador to Iran, K.C. Singh, criticised the MEA’s statement as unsatisfactory.“Disappointing statement by MEA betraying Indian gov’s unconditional support for Netanyahu gov, even as US President Biden tries pulling back. An Indian ex-serviceman & UN employee is killed & no condemnation of Israel. Is this Zionism-Hindutva alliance or visionless diplomacy?”, he posted.Similarly, former Indian ambassador and West Asia expert Talmiz Ahmed used strong words to describe Israel’s actions in Rafah: “Today there is a macabre dance of death in the Rafah area”.Ahmed highlighted that despite US President Joe Biden’s warnings to Israel about red lines in Rafah, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ignored it.“Immediately after the American president’s statement, they have been carrying out continuous attacks in Rafah in which several dozen people have been killed.“Israelis are treating the Americans with total contempt. To crown it all, they have deliberately and consciously attacked a UN cavalcade. They used a tank for this, that means there was perfect understanding of the target,” said Ahmed.He asserted that the message from the killing of the UN personnel was “not just to the Americans but to the international community that Israel enjoys total impunity with regard to the mass murder that it is conducting in Rafah”.“For us in India, it is a particularly shocking episode that a senior Indian army officer who after an outstanding career in the Indian army joined the UN system should have been the target of this callous attack”.Ahmed told The Wire that he was surprised that the Indian statement “was very restrained and very carefully seeks to avoid apportioning blame”.“But here, this is not a question of apportioning blame. It’s very obvious that the Israelis deliberately targeted the UN convoy, so I don’t think we should hold back in this regard.“We should be very clear that this kind of conduct of war against helpless civilians, which has gone on for seven months, is not acceptable … This is now an attack on the UN system as well.”Kale, who is survived by his wife and two teenage children, had joined the UNDSS in Gaza last month.After retiring from the Indian army after 22 years of service, he had joined Amazon before travelling to Gaza under the UN flag.He had previously served in two UN peacekeeping missions.In Thane, his cousin Chinmay Kale told news agency ANI that his brother had also wanted to return to the ‘field’ even after joining as a senior official in a private firm after his retirement.“The last WhatsApp message that I sent him was ‘Come with peace in Gaza’… Peace may come to Gaza, but my brother would not be there”.He added: “Waibhav Kale, an Indian, had nothing to do with Hamas or Israel or this war. But he has sacrificed his life for peace. Now, peace must be restored in Gaza”.