New Delhi: External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Monday extended wishes to his Israeli counterpart, Israel Katz on the occasion of the Jewish festival, Passover, also called Pesach.

Taking to X, EAM Jaishankar said, "My warm wishes to FM @Israel_katz and the Jewish people everywhere on #Pessach. Chag #Pessach Sameach!"

In response to the EAM Jaishankar's wishes, the Israeli Foreign Minister thanked him for the wishes and hoped that relations between the people of Israel and India would be further strengthened.

"Thank you, FM @DrSJaishankar, for your warm wishes. I hope that thanks to the Passover holiday, the relations between our peoples will be further strengthened," he posted on X.

Jewish communities in Greater Manchester and across the world celebrating Passover this week. This year, the Jewish festival which marks the exodus of the Israelites from slavery in Egypt starts on the evening of Monday (April 22), lasting eight days in the UK.

Families and friends come together on the first night of the festival for the Seder - a ritual feast where foods symbolising the exodus story are consumed. Many Jewish people living outside of Israel in the diaspora take part in a second Seder the following night too.

India and Israel's relations take new rights following India's official response to the Israel-Hamas war in which it strongly condemned the Hamas attack on Israel and supported the national security of the Jewish nation.

India announced its recognition of Israel on September 17, 1950. Soon thereafter, the Jewish Agency established an immigration office in Bombay. This was later converted into a Trade Office and subsequently a Consulate. Embassies were opened in 1992 when full diplomatic relations were established, according to the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) website.

Since the upgradation of relations in 1992, defence and agriculture formed the two main pillars of our bilateral engagement. In recent years, relations have seen rapid growth across a broad spectrum of areas and the future vision of the cooperation is of a strong hi-tech partnership as befits two knowledge economies.

The MEA website said the political ties between the two countries are friendly. Prime Minister Modi undertook a historic first-ever visit by an Indian PM to Israel from 4-6 July 2017, during which the relationship was upgraded to a strategic level and seven Agreements/MoUs were signed in the fields of Reseach and Development innovation, water, agriculture and space. Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, made a visit to India from 14-19 January 2018 during which four G2G agreements on cyber security, oil & gas cooperation, film co-production and air transport were signed, along with five other semi-government agreements.

Before these visits, Hon'ble President Pranab Mukherjee paid a state visit to Israel in October 2015, while Israeli President Reuven Rivlin visited India in November 2016. Increased high-level exchanges and ministerial visits on both sides have expanded cooperation in different functional areas such as trade, agriculture, S&T, culture and security.

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