India will be guided by its “national interest” before reconsidering the transfer of weapons or arms sales to Israel, the country’s external affairs minister has said, in yet another sign that Delhi is committed to providing diplomatic and military cover for Israel’s genocide in Gaza.

On Thursday, several opposition politicians took the opportunity to use the Q&A session in parliament to probe India’s external affairs minister, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, on India’s policies, including its decision to abstain from several UN resolutions on Gaza, as well as to clarify its position on the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) decision to issue warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant.

India is the largest purchaser of Israeli weapons, accounting for around $1bn of trade per year. Since 2017, both countries have considered their partnership a “strategic relationship”, with India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s administration and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office often making a public spectacle of their friendship.