India has reiterated its developmental and health-related commitments to the state of Palestine and emphasised the need for a ‘two-state solution’ to the Israel-Palestinian conflict. India’s message was conveyed during the ongoing visit of Secretary of the Ministry of External Affairs, Sripriya Ranganathan, to Ramallah, the administrative headquarters of the Palestinian Authority (PA).

Ms. Ranganathan, the highest-ranking Indian diplomat to visit the West Bank since Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attack, discussed a range of Indian initiatives with Palestinian officials, including the deployment of an Indian field hospital in the Gaza Strip, said the Indian Representative Office in Palestine.

On Wednesday (August 19, 2026), the Indian and Palestinian teams launched the construction work of a super-speciality hospital in Jenin, West Bank.

“She highlighted India’s expanding support to the Palestinian health sector, including essential medicines and anti-cancer drugs, an Artificial Limb Fitment Camp, and the deployment of an Indian field hospital in Gaza. During the engagement, the Secretary also handed over a consignment of medicines from the Government of India to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, reaffirming India’s continued support to Palestinian healthcare services,” the Indian mission in Ramallah said in a statement.

Watch: Israel-Palestine conflict: What’s the two-state solution?

Ms. Ranganathan met Dr. Majed Abu Ramadan, the Minister of Health of the State of Palestine and Dr. Varsen Aghabekian Shahin, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, and reiterated India’s support for a “two-State solution” and pitched for addressing the “humanitarian situation in Gaza”. Ms. Ranganathan called on Dr. Mohammad Mustafa, Prime Minister of Palestine, on Wednesday (August 19, 2026). “Discussions focused on further strengthening the longstanding India-Palestine partnership and advancing bilateral cooperation across key areas of mutual interest,” the Indian mission said.

On Wednesday (August 19, 2026), the Indian and Palestinian teams jointly carried out the groundbreaking ceremony for the 200-seat super-speciality hospital that will be built in the Arrabeh city in Jenin Governorate in the northern West Bank.

Palestinian ambassador calls for an end to illegal Jewish settlements in West Bank

Ms. Ranganathan’s visit to the West Bank coincided with a press conference on Wednesday (August 19, 2026) that was held at the Palestine embassy by the Ambassador of Palestine, Abdullah M. Abu Shawesh.

“The international community must not wait until the Israeli election is over to ask what happened to Palestinian communities in the meantime. It must act now to halt settlement expansion, forced displacement and de facto annexation, demand accountability for extremist Israeli settler terror and protect the Palestinian people’s fundamental right to exist,” said Ambassador Abu Shawesh in his remarks. The envoy cautioned against the influence of the “hard-right, fanatical and messianic” sections over politics in Israel that will go into election in October this year.

“What is happening right now in the Occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, must be called by its name: terror carried out by extremist, racist Israeli settlers,” said Mr. Abu Shawesh.

Published - August 20, 2026 01:11 am IST