Iranian President Ebrahim Raeisi says Israel’s actions against Palestinians echo the crimes perpetrated by the Nazis during the Second World War, warning that the dimensions of the war will broaden if the Israeli regime persists with its attacks.
“If the Zionist regime seeks to pay for its defeat through the continuation of these crimes [against Palestinians], the dimensions of the developments will expand,” Raeisi said in a phone call with French President Emmanuel Macron on Sunday.
He added that Western countries and international organizations shoulder a responsibility in addressing the ongoing crimes of the Israeli regime against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
Raeisi stressed the necessity of an immediate halt to the bombardment of residential areas in Gaza, lifting the blockade, and providing essential supplies like water, electricity, fuel, and basic items to the besieged city, in addition to respecting the absolute rights of the Palestinian people.
The president emphasized that those measures are necessary to prevent the spread of the crisis in the region.
Raeisi strongly condemned Israel’s criminal attacks and expressed deep concern for the people of Gaza, citing seven decades of oppression, discrimination, injustice, and occupation of Palestinian territories by the regime.
The Palestinian resistance groups’ operation was a reaction to Israel’s crimes and a protest against seven decades of killing, cruelty and injustice towards the Palestinian people, he added.
On October 7, the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas launched multi-pronged strikes on Israel and penetrated deep into the territories occupied by the regime for decades. Operation Al-Aqsa Storm took Israel by surprise. It was a response to the regime’s recurrent desecration of al-Aqsa Mosque and decade-long atrocities against the Palestinians.
Israel responded by indiscriminate bombardment of civilian buildings and infrastructure and imposing a total siege on the Strip. Gaza, home to more than 2.3 million Palestinians, has been running vitally low on fuel, electricity, water and food.
So far, Israel has killed more than 2,450 Palestinians, including women and children, in Gaza.
The Iranian president further emphasized that the Tel Aviv regime has repeatedly violated international rules and conventions and the so-called peace agreements against the Palestinians.
“This time, the regime has also committed war crimes by violating all international rules and regulations as it imposed a blockade [on Gaza] and cut off supplies of water, electricity, fuel, food and medicine to the people of Gaza,” Raeisi said.
He added that Israel has also carried out “extensive and indiscriminate bombardment against civilian targets and even used phosphorous bombs.”
The Iranian president stressed the importance of putting an immediate end to the bombing of residential areas in Gaza, saying, “The forced displacement of Gaza residents from their hometowns is neither practical nor compatible with international principles and laws.”
He added that the Palestinian resistance groups and all free nations of the world will stand against such crimes against Palestinians.
Raeisi also slammed the incorrect and incomplete narratives of the Western media about the events taking place against the oppressed and defenseless people of Gaza and once again called for exerting pressure on Israel to stop its crimes against civilians and lift the blockade of Gaza.
He highlighted the importance of every single moment and seconds to force the Israeli regime to stop its crimes and prevent the spread of the crisis to other parts of the region.
“Western countries and international organizations should immediately fulfill their responsibility in this regard,” he stated.
The Iranian president also criticized the French government for preventing a rally in support of the Palestinian people and called on his French counterpart not to allow “the name of France be mentioned in the history as a country that supports the child-killing Zionist regime.”
Raeisi reiterated Iran’s principled stance on support for the Palestinian people’s rights and said, “We believe that defending the Palestinian resistance movement is defending an oppressed nation.”
For his part, the French president expressed concern over the escalation of the crisis in the Gaza Strip and called on Iran to play its influential role to control the situation in the region.
However, Macron was told by his Iranian counterpart that resistance groups can decide for themselves.
