Iran says Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has taken hostage both the issue of war in the Gaza Strip and the US national interests to achieve his personal interests.
In a telephone conversation with the EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell on Monday, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian outlined the latest developments in Gaza.
The conversation focused on reports about Israel’s killing of the Palestinians in Gaza’s al-Shifa Hospital and the massacre of women and children.
“The continuation of the humanitarian crisis and Israel’s use of starvation against the people of Gaza have turned the situation into the real crisis of the century,” Iran’s foreign minister said.
He commended Borrell’s stance on the necessity to end Israel’s genocidal war and dispatch humanitarian aid to the besieged Palestinian territory.
“The time is ripe to take punitive measures against the Israeli regime,” Amir-Abdollahian said of the responsibility of the international community and the European Union vis-à-vis the Palestinian issue.
He also called for the formation of an international fact-finding mission to investigate the crimes of Israel, including at the Shifa Hospital.
Amir-Abdollahian said the United States and certain European countries continue to send weapons to Israel to commit acts of genocide in Gaza, while they send humanitarian aid to the besieged Palestinian territory in a symbolic move.
Israel ignited its bloody war machine in the Gaza Strip on October 7 after the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas carried out a historic operation against the usurping entity in retaliation for its intensified atrocities against the Palestinian people.
Nearly six months into the hostilities, the regime has failed to achieve its objectives of “destroying Hamas” and finding Israeli captives despite killing over 32,300 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and injuring nearly 74,700 others.
During the conversation, Borrell said the European Union plans to continue the dispatch of humanitarian assistance to Gaza and support measures by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) and the UN bids to establish a lasting ceasefire.
The senior EU diplomat once again voiced his opposition to Israel’s plan to carry out a ground invasion of the city of Rafah and criticized the Tel Aviv regime for keeping civilians in hunger.
