The minister of state for foreign affairs, Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu, has restated Nigeria’s commitment to strengthening diplomatic relations with Israel.

Mrs Odumegwu-Ojukwu stated this during a high-level bilateral meeting with Israel’s deputy foreign affairs minister, Sharren Haskel-Harpaz, on Monday in Abuja.

According to her, Nigeria will partner Israel and leverage Israel’s expertise in a range of areas such as agriculture, tourism, water management, border control and the film industry.

Mrs Odumegwu-Ojukwu said, “Nigeria is committed to strengthening the relations we have with Israel.

“Regarding the incident of October 7, there have been concerns about the casualty level, but Nigeria understands the State of Israel has to defend itself.

“However, casualties that involve women and children are concerning to the Nigerian government.”

The minister assured her Israeli counterpart that Nigeria was looking at how the tensions could best be de-escalated.

“Nigeria is committed, bearing in mind its own challenges, particularly around its own sub-region of ECOWAS, with the crisis of the states that have withdrawn from ECOWAS.

“Nigeria is trying to ensure the door is left open. They are being engaged bilaterally, even though they have exited.

“Their exit has heightened security challenges and Nigeria is grappling with them,” she further said.

Mrs Odumegwu-Ojukwu said that Nigeria understood what it meant to deal with unexpected situations that suddenly arose and took the lives of so many people.

“Particularly when you have to be placed in a reactionary position,” she added.

The minister also expressed appreciation to Ms Haskel-Harpaz for her perspective on Israel’s experience, saying the global concern was centred on ways and means to reduce the casualties to the barest minimum.

She said Nigeria recognised that the attack of Oct. 7, 2023, on Israel was not random but premeditated, noting that the country appreciated that no country would be blamed for defending itself in such a crisis.

The minister, however, urged Israel to consider the humanitarian crisis fallout, women and children victims, adding that it was essential to consider ways and means of de-escalating and limiting the bloodshed.

Speaking earlier, Ms Haskel-Harpaz said that no other country was facing the international demands that Israel was facing from the world.

According to her, terrorist organisations are always looking out for pockets of instability.

“On Oct. 7, Israel was attacked on six different fronts. Our front with Hamas is one of the most difficult and it is so because they are holding hostages. Israel is being held to a different standard.

“No other country is taking refugees from Gaza, so the innocent people can’t flee to safe zones, but in the case of Ukraine, refugees from Ukraine are taken by other European countries,” she said.

Ms Haskel-Harpaz said the Israeli army was doing everything to avoid civilian casualties.

She disclosed that amid the humanitarian crisis, Israel begged the world to send the proper humanitarian agencies, such as the WHO, UNICEF, and the Red Cross.

According to her, instead of sending the proper agencies, UMRA, which is an organisation that has been collaborating with Hamas for years, was sent.

“With the Americans, we have created a new channel,  which is the Gaza Humanitarian Fund (GHF).

“Hamas has been furious because the GHF has disorganised their plans.

“Hence, they now consider those who go to GHF for aid as traitors and kill them,” she said.

The Israeli minister said that Israel did not wish any country to be in a precarious situation like hers, but preferred to have genuine allies, which was the basis of her visit to Nigeria.

She invited Mrs Odumegwu-Ojukwu to a conference in Israel on women’s leadership, as well as to some of the locations mentioned.

“We want to have an open dialogue and discuss things, even if we don’t agree on every issue.

“We would love to host a delegation of Nigerian experts, who would come to Israel to learn how we have been protecting our border,” she added.

 (NAN)