India has become a key arms supplier to Israel

India has become a key part of Israel’s weapons supply chain under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, The Guardian reported, citing a recent Amnesty International investigation into shipments since the Gaza war began.

The Guardian said India’s ties with Israel have taken on “a different character” under Modi, for a country that once championed the Palestinian cause and led the Non-Aligned Movement. Stanly Johny, an Indian foreign policy expert and international affairs editor at the Hindu, told the newspaper the shift was not only political or diplomatic, but “also at the strategic and defence level”.

Amnesty said Indian companies, including state-owned enterprises, had delivered drone warheads, artillery shell casings, small arms parts and military vehicle components to Israeli military suppliers, according to The Guardian. Amnesty said it examined publicly available shipment-level trade data and traced 390,516 small arms parts for military grade weapons, 564,970 parts of explosive ordnance and 298 components of military vehicles from Indian factories to Israeli suppliers between 7 October 2023 and 30 November 2025.

Amnesty identified three state-owned Indian companies supplying Israel with weapons: Munitions India Limited, India Optel Limited and Advanced Weapons and Equipment India Limited. It said the supplies could expose India to the hazard of “complicity in ongoing genocide in Gaza”; foreign ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal responded that India’s exports are governed by national laws and international obligations.

External affairs minister S Jaishankar told parliament in 2024 that information on weapons supplies to Israel was not in the public domain and that exports of military products were guided by “national interest”, The Guardian reported. The newspaper said many western nations, including Britain, have restricted or banned arms supply to Israel over risks that weapons could be used to commit or facilitate violations of international humanitarian law.

The Guardian said the Amnesty report had not prompted large-scale public debate or political backlash in India, despite some scattered media coverage. Stanly Johny attributed this partly to support for Israel among Modi’s voter base, saying: “There is a clear ideological confluence between Hindutva and Zionism.”