Flames of US-Israeli bombs to soon devour Zionists: Raeisi

“The flames of the American-Israeli bombs that were dropped on the heads of the oppressed wounded Palestinians at Gaza’s al-Ahli Baptist Hospital would soon devour Zionists,” Raeisi wrote in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, on Tuesday.

Earlier in the day, at least 500 civilians, mainly women and children, were killed by Israeli airstrikes on the facility amid a relentless war by the regime on the besieged Gaza Strip, the territory’s health ministry said.

The actual death toll could be far higher since, according to the ministry, “hundreds of victims are still under the rubble.”

The strikes came while thousands of civilians were seeking medical treatment and shelter at the hospital from incessant Israeli airstrikes.

The war had already killed thousands of people, including hundreds of women and children.

“The silence of no noble person is permissible in the face of this war crime,” Raeisi added, saying the Islamic Republic had declared Wednesday a day of public mourning over the tragedy.

Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, meanwhile, wrote in a post on X that, in the aftermath of the “appalling crime,” time had come for “the humanity to unite internationally against this bogus regime…and its killing machine,” calling the Israeli regime “more hateful than [the Takfiri terrorist group of] Daesh.”

Also on Tuesday, the Foreign Ministry condemned the deadly atrocity in the strongest terms, calling the massacre as a “savage war crime” and an instance of “genocide.”

MP/PressTV

Iran strongly condemns 'heinous' Israeli attack on hospital

Health Ministry in the Gaza Strip said on Tuesday that at least 500 have been killed in a savage attack by the Israeli Zionist regime.

An Israeli air strike has hit al-Ahli hospital in Gaza City where thousands of civilians were seeking medical treatment and shelter from relentless attacks.

Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Nasser Kan’ani condemned in strongest terms the ‘heinous’ attack on the Gaza hospital.

Media have reported that people in the West Bank have poured to the streets and have engaged in clashes with the Zionist regime’s security forces.

Moreover, President president Mahmoud Abbad has canceled his scheduled tomorrow meeting with visiting US president Joe Biden in Ramallah.

MNA

Israel’s 'lunatic' actions will engulf entire region: Iran president

Iranian President Ebrahim Raeisi has denounced the continuation of Israel’s brutal onslaught on the besieged Gaza Strip as a “lunatic” measure that will spread conflicts across the region.

Raeisi made the remarks in a phone conversation with his Brazilian counterpart Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Tuesday as the two discussed the latest developments in Palestine and exchanged their views on Operation al-Aqsa Storm, the largest military operation by Palestinian resistance groups against the illegal entity in decades.

The Iranian president described the Hamas-led operation, which was launched on October 7, as a reaction to the continued occupation of Palestine by the Zionist regime and the widespread violation of the basic rights of Palestinians.

Since last Saturday, the Israeli military has been pounding the Gaza Strip with thousands of rockets and has forced its residents to relocate south, in what is expected to be a precursor to the ground invasion of the coastal area.

“The criminal, lunatic and illegal actions by the Zionists against the oppressed people of Gaza will not only help solve the problem, but will also intensify and expand the scope of conflict to other parts of the region,” Raeisi told Lula da Silva.

The Iranian president underlined that the Israeli regime was taking revenge on the Palestinian civilians, especially women and children of Gaza, for its defeat in the al-Aqsa Storm.

Pointing to the inhumane act of the Zionists in cutting off water and electricity and preventing the entry of fuel, food, and medicine into Gaza, Raeisi said, “We underline an immediate halt to the bombing of residential areas and the killing of the oppressed women and children of Gaza, as well as an immediate removal of the area’s blockade.”

The Iranian president termed the Israeli regime’s actions as a clear example of war crimes and crimes against humanity, and underlined the need for all countries to play a role in dealing with such actions.

Raeisi also called on Brazil, as the interim president of the United Nations Security Council and an influential member of the BRICS group of countries, to work for a ceasefire in and an end to Israel’s aggression against Gaza.

Lula da Silva, for his part, approved of the Iranian president’s stance on the situation in Gaza and the need to immediately stop the attacks on the besieged area, establish a ceasefire and reopen the crossings for humanitarian aid and treatment of the injured.

The Brazilian president censured as “unacceptable” the occupying regime’s policy of forcibly relocating the residents of Gaza and its attacks on Palestinian women and children as well as their schools and hospitals.

The death toll from Israeli airstrikes on Gaza has risen to nearly 3,500, while more than 12,500 others have sustained various injuries in the coastal territory, according to Palestinian official news agency Wafa.

Israel started its bombardment of the Gaza Strip after Hamas, which is based in Gaza, started Operation Al-Aqsa Storm on October 7, and launched attacks on settlers and military forces that killed some 1,400 people.

Israel’s forcible transfer of Gazans amounts to crimes against humanity: UN

The United Nations human rights office has said Israel’s brutal blockade of the Palestinian enclave of Gaza, combined with the evacuation order and forcible transfer of civilians, could amount to a crime against humanity.

Spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani said in the Swiss city of Geneva on Tuesday that the forced relocation of civilians has been classed as a crime against humanity and is punishable by the International Criminal Court (ICC).

“We are concerned that this order, combined with the imposition of a complete siege of Gaza, may not be considered as lawful temporary evacuation and would therefore amount to a forcible transfer of civilians in breach of international law,” she said.

“Those who managed to comply with the Israeli authorities’ order to evacuate are now trapped in the south of the Gaza Strip, with scant shelter, fast-depleting food supplies, little or no access to clean water, sanitation, medicine and other basic needs,” Shamdasani said.

“We have grave fears about the toll on civilians in the coming days. Military operations show no signs of abating.”

On October 12, Israel ordered 1.1 million people in the north of Gaza to evacuate and move south of the enclave as the regime forces prepare for a ground invasion of the besieged Gaza Strip. 

Israel’s bombardment has already pushed Palestinians in the besieged enclave into smaller areas and spaces.

“International law requires that any lawful temporary evacuation by Israel, as the occupying power, of an area on the basis of the security of the population or imperative military reasons must be accompanied by the provision of proper accommodation for all evacuees,” Shamdasani said

The total death toll from Israel’s aggression against the Gaza Strip has risen to some 3,500, with over 1,000 children among the victims. About 12,500 have been injured since Israeli air raids began.

Rising death toll, and flattened buildings with no food, water and electricity supplies; are what Israel’s non-stop strikes, shelling and complete blockade have brought to the Gaza Strip.

The regime’s fresh air raids killed 80 Palestinians in Rafah and Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip.

Israeli attacks also took the life of a Palestinian journalist in the north, bringing to 16 the number of journalists killed by the regime’s bombardments since October 7.

Israel launched its assaults against the besieged Palestinian territory following the Palestinians’ Operation al-Aqsa flood.

The humanitarian situation is getting worse by the hour in the besieged Gaza, with hospitals facing a collapse.

The World Health Organization (WHO) is warning of an imminent catastrophe in the territory. The WHO also said it needs urgent access to Gaza to deliver aid and medical supplies.

According to the UN Palestinian agency, UNRWA, fuel reserves at all hospitals across Gaza are expected to last for only 24 hours.“The shutdown of backup generators would place the lives of thousands of patients at serious risk,” it said.

Separately, the World Food Programme (WFP) said that its food supplies in the besieged enclave were running low, but it was stockpiling supplies in the Egyptian city of El Arish.

“We call for unimpeded access, safe passage to desperately needed humanitarian supplies to Gaza,” WFP’s regional communication lead for the Middle East and North Africa, Abeera Etefa said.

Aid trucks have been heading to the Rafah crossing on the Egypt border, but it remains uncertain whether the supplies can cross into southern Gaza.

Also on Tuesday, Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammed Shtayyeh, during a press conference in the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah accused Israel of committing ‘genocide’ during the ongoing aggression against Gaza.

“This is a war crime, genocide, and unprecedented destruction,” Shtayyeh said.

Israel strikes Lebanon with white phosphorus bombs, killing 4: Report

The Israeli army has struck Southern Lebanon with artillery shells and internationally banned white phosphorus munitions, killing four people, according to a report.

In a report on Tuesday, the state-run National News Agency in Lebanon said that earlier in the day, Israeli forces struck several areas along the border in southern Lebanon with artillery fire and banned white phosphorus.

The use of white phosphorus shells for direct targeting of enemy positions is prohibited under the 1980 Geneva Convention, which explicitly forbids their use against both humans and the environment, stressing that the practice can amount to war crime and cause widespread fatalities.

This is not the first time that Tel Aviv has used such weapons.

The attack came shortly after an anti-tank missile fired from Lebanon landed in the town of Metula in northern Israel, wounding three Israelis, the Ziv Medical Center in Safed reported.

No group in Lebanon has yet claimed responsibility for the missile attack.

The cross-border attack came hours after the Israeli military said in a statement that it had killed four individuals who allegedly attempted to plant explosive devices on a border wall between Israel and Lebanon, releasing Israeli army reconnaissance drone footage purportedly showing the four people and the subsequent bombardment.

On Sunday, Lebanon’s resistance movement Hezbollah said it had targeted an Israeli military base with guided missiles in response to the Tel Aviv regime’s crimes and aggressions, killing and injuring several people.

Armed resistance is the only way to confront the Israeli “aggression,” Hezbollah said at the time, urging Israel to learn the “important lessons” taught by the “Palestinian resistance.”

Last week, fighters from the Palestinian Islamic Jihad resistance group in southern Lebanon also crossed the border and clashed with Israeli forces, killing three and injuring several others.

Hamas launched Operation Al-Aqsa Storm against Israel on October 7, in response to the regime’s violations at Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied East al-Quds and growing settler violence.

The surprise raid shook the usurping entity’s security establishment, leaving about 1,300 Israelis dead.

In response, Israel launched deadly strikes on the Gaza Strip. More than 3,500 Palestinians, many of whom children and women, have been killed and over 12,500 others injured in the coastal territory.

The military campaign has seen the Israel regime leveling entire districts and using banned white phosphorous munitions against densely populated neighborhoods.

'West aiding, abetting Israel’s war crimes in Gaza'


The family of a Palestinian child killed in an Israeli air strike mourn outside a hospital in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip, on October 17, 2023. (AFP)

The West is “aiding and abetting” Israel’s “war crimes” in the Gaza Strip, says a letter, which bears the signatures of more than two thousand artists, who demand an immediate end to the regime’s unprecedented cruelty being inflicted on Palestinians.

“We are witnessing a crime and a catastrophe,” said the letter signed by artists that include famous novelists, singers, playwrights, filmmakers as well as famed actors and actresses.

“We are witnessing a crime and a catastrophe. Israel has reduced much of Gaza to rubble, and cut off the supply of water, power, food and medicine to 2.3 million Palestinians,” the letter said. 


“Our governments are not only tolerating war crimes but aiding and abetting them,” the signatories said “There will come a time when they are held to account for their complicity. “

The West, including the United States, Britain, Australia and France have expressed support for the Israeli regime, at a time when over 3000 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli bombardments since October 7.

At least 500 civilians were killed in an air strike on a hospital in Gaza on Tuesday. The attack came as thousands of Palestinians had taken shelter in the hospital.

Earlier in the day, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called on the world to stand united behind his occupying regime, during a joint press conference with visiting German chancellor, Olaf Scholz. 

Netanyahu ordered the offensive against Gaza after Palestinian resistance fighters began Operation al-Aqsa Storm on October 7 in response to the occupying regime’s decades-long campaign of bloodshed and destruction against the Palestinians.

 

US supplying Israel with guided bombs, Tamir missiles: Press TV sources

Members of the 336th Aircraft Maintenance Unit load crew work together to load GBU-31 joint direct attack munition during the 4th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron’s quarterly load crew competition, July 13, 2018, at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, North Carolina.

The United States is transferring large supplies of highly-destructive weapons to the occupied Palestinian territories amid a deadly Israeli campaign of airstrikes and shelling against the Gaza Strip, sources have revealed to the Press TV.

The sources said on Tuesday that the US had started loading consignments of GBU (Guided Bomb Unit) and GBU-31 from its air bases in Qatar, Cyprus, Greece and Germany for the purpose of delivery to the Israeli military.

The weapons would be much deadlier than the missiles already used by the Israeli regime to demolish residential areas and civilian infrastructure in Gaza since the regime started its brutal campaign against the small Palestinian territory 11 days ago, the sources said.

An intelligence source stationed in the West Asia region said that the US is also providing Israel with more Tamir missiles used in Israel’s Iron Dome missile interception system.

Washington’s decision to supply sophisticated weaponry to Israel is aimed at helping the regime overcome a shortage of Tamir missiles.

This comes as Iron Dome has been grappling with barrages of rockets fired from the Gaza Strip since October 7 when the Palestinian resistance group Hamas launched a multi-pronged operation against Israeli settlers and military forces.

Reports from international air traffic control services show the US has dispatched numerous cargo planes from bases in Europe and in the US to destinations in the Israeli-occupied territories over the past few days.

Another source in the Mediterranean region said that the Israeli regime is setting up a maritime version of Iron Dome around offshore Leviathan and Tamar gas fields in the region in anticipation of rocket attacks by Hamas.

Regional countries have warned that the ongoing conflict in Palestine could spread to other areas in the region if Israeli attacks on Gaza, which have left nearly 3,000 people killed, are not stopped.

Governments have also warned that any involvement of third parties in the conflict, including from the side of the US, would cause the war to spiral out of control.

Raeisi asks Brazil to intervene in Gaza issue for peace

President Raeisi made the comments in a telephone conversation with Lula da Silva, the president of Brazil and the temporary head of the UN Security Council on Tuesday.

The Iranian president said that the Resistance’s recent actions in occupied Palestine were a response to the decades-long occupation, highlighting “The Zionists against’s foolish actions against the oppressed people of Gaza will not help to resolve the problem, but instead escalate the conflict and spread it to other parts of the region.”

He noted that the Zionist regime is taking revenge for its defeat against Palestinians in the recent Al-Aqsa Storm Operation, strongly condemning the siege on the Gaza Strip and cutting off water, food and humanitarian supplies to the oppressed people as inhuman actions by the Zionist regime in a bid to make up for its huge defeat at the hands of the Resistance groups.

Raeisi described Zionist regime’s actions as a clear example of war crimes and crimes against humanity and emphasized the need for all countries to play a role in countering such savage actions.

The Iranian president called on Brazil, as the rotating president of the UN Security Council and a big BRICS member, to intervene for the sake of world peace, voicing Iran’s preparedness to help Briazil in playing that role on the international stage.