Who was the former Indian Army officer Colonel Waibhav Anil Kale, who was killed in Gaza?
PTC News Desk: The Indian national, Colonel Waibhav Anil Kale (Retd), who was employed by the United Nations (UN) as a security service coordinator, was killed when the car he was riding in was attacked in the Rafah area of Gaza. With the death of Colonel Kale, there has been no foreign fatality for the UN since the start of the Israel-Hamas conflict last year.
Both Israel and the UN have demanded that the event be looked into. Colonel Kale's wife Amruta and two teenage children, son Vedant and daughter Radhika, survive him. Colonel Kale retired from the Indian Army in 2022.
The following information relates to Colonel Waibhav Anil Kale
1. Waibhav Anil Kale, 46, was a member of the military forces for more than 20 years. His brother, Group Captain Vishal Kale, is in the Indian Air Force; his cousin, Colonel Amey Kale, is in the army; and his brother-in-law, Wing Commander Prasant Karde (Retd), is in the army. His family was committed to serving in the military.
2. Colonel Kale attended the Somalwar High School and was a native of Nagpur. According to his LinkedIn profile, he later earned a BA in humanities from Jawaharlal Nehru University and a Diploma of Education in Senior Defense Management from Devi Ahilya Vishwavidyalaya, Indore.
3. He finished the International Red Cross's Certificate Program in International Humanitarian Law in 2009. He completed a second Certificate Program in Behavioural Science at the Indian Institute of National Integration in 2012.
4. In 1998, Colonel Waibhav Anil Kale enlisted in the Indian Army. In addition to serving as an instructor at the army's Infantry School in Mhow, he oversaw the 11 JAK Rifles in Kashmir, conducted counterintelligence and counterterrorism operations, and operated in the northeast and on the Siachen glacier. In the Indian Army, he held a number of posts, such as commander of a rifle company and commander of a battalion. In 2022, Col. Kale decided to permanently leave the Army.
5. From 2009 to 2010, Colonel Kale worked with the UN as a Contingent Chief Security Officer when he was in the Army. According to officials, he only joined the UNDSS 5–6 weeks ago in the capacity of a Security Coordination Officer.
- With inputs from agencies
