TEHRAN, Oct. 15 (MNA) – A large number of people in the biggest Turkish city, Istanbul, held a massive rally to show their anger towards the Israeli regime’s atrocities in Gaza.
Iran’s foreign minister warns of dire consequences of Israel’s Gaza strikes
Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian has warned about the dire consequences of Israel’s relentless bombardment of the besieged Gaza Strip.
“In case Israel continues attacking the defenseless people of Gaza, there will be no guarantee that the situation would come under control and the conflict would not spill over,” Amir-Abdollahian said in a meeting with Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani on Sunday.
Those who do not favor the expansion of the current war, the Iranian minister said, must stop Israel’s savagery.
Amir-Abdollahian also censured Washington for its contradictory approach, saying the United States invites others to exercise self-restraint but at the same time evades commitment and ramps up its all-out support for Israel.
The Iranian minister urged Muslim countries to work for an end to the “war crimes committed by the apartheid Zionist regime.”
He reiterated the importance of an emergency meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) under the current circumstances.
For his part, the Qatari emir expressed concern about the humanitarian situation in Gaza and said Qatar’s stance on the Palestinian issue would never change as it prioritizes an end to the crimes of Israel in the besieged enclave.
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 2,300 Palestinians, including women and children, in Gaza.
Iran cannot be bystander in face of Israeli onslaught
“We announced to the Zionist regime, via its supporters, that if it does not stop its crimes in Gaza, tomorrow will be too late,” Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said in an interview with Aljazeera while on a Qatar visit on Sunday.
Iran cannot just watch this situation as a bystander. If the scope of the war expands, heavy losses will be inflicted on the United States, Amir-Abdollahian further warned.
Iran’s foreign minister expressed hope that political efforts will prevent the spread of war.
Stating that the continuation of the Zionist attacks and the lack of a political solution will cause the situation to flare up, he pointed out the situation is likely to get out of control while the region and its players will not remain bystanders.
Israeli regime forces launched a sustained and forceful military attack against the Gaza Strip in response to a military operation last Saturday by the Palestinian group Hamas in Israel.
As many as 2,269 people, including over 700 Palestinian children, have been so far killed and 9,814 others injured since the regime launched its bloody aggression against the coastal territory.
In its latest updated figures released by the Zionist regime’s army, on Sunday morning it said that the number of soldiers killed during the Al-Aqsa Storm operation increased to 286.
A total of more than 1300 Zionist settlers and soldiers have been killed in the Al-Aqsa Storm operation launched by Hamas last Saturday.
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Israel to face another blow if it launches ground invasion of Gaza: Hamas official
By Ali Ghorban Bagheri
Palestinian resistance movement will inflict a second crushing blow on the Israeli regime if it launches the ground invasion of the besieged Gaza Strip, says a Hamas official.
In a conversation with the Press TV website, Raafat Morra, who is responsible for Hamas’s public relations and popular mobilization, said the regime in Tel Aviv suffered a big defeat on October 7.
The Gaza-based resistance movement launched an unprecedented operation called ‘Al-Aqsa Storm’ (also known as Al-Aqsa Flood) that took the occupying Israeli regime by complete surprise.
The attack targeted military installations and killed thousands of Israeli soldiers and settlers. Hundreds of others were also taken as prisoners of war, including senior Israeli commanders.
In a knee-jerk and desperate reaction, the Israeli regime responded with indiscriminate shelling of densely populated civilian areas in the besieged coastal strip, killing mostly women and children.
The bombing campaign has left 2,329 people dead and 9,042 people injured so far.
There has been talk of the regime also mounting a ground offensive against the Gaza Strip, which the resistance factions have strongly warned against as they are fully prepared for it.
Israel has amassed troops around the strip in preparation for a potential ground offensive after warning people in northern Gaza to evacuate and move toward the southern part of Gaza.
“The Israeli regime suffered a defeat on October 7. It will undoubtedly suffer another defeat if it launches a ground invasion of the Gaza Strip,” Morrah said, warning against the foolhardy move.
He said the movement managed to deal the regime a “very painful blow” that shook its army, and debunked the myth of Israeli military and security superiority, showing how fragile it is.
The regime, the Hamas official noted, is now trying to exact revenge by launching a mass bombardment campaign on the Gaza Strip, destroying houses, medical facilities and infrastructure.
“Hamas and the Palestinian people will be resilient in the face of aggression and the Israeli regime will be unable to achieve its goals,” the Hamas official said.
Asked if other resistance groups across the region might get involved against the regime, he said Hamas has asked all resistance forces in the Arab and Muslim world to participate in the battle.
“We ask everybody to engage in the fight against the regime in whatever form they can. It’s up to them to decide how they can contribute to it,” Morrah said.
Asked why the Western states rushed to the regime’s aid, he said they soon found out what a big failure and defeat the regime suffered and started worrying about the existence of the regime.
“The UK, US and Germany have started offering the regime military support and protection. This shows the weakness of the regime and that it can’t deal with resistance forces,” he remarked.
“This also shows the Western states are not certain the regime will continue to exist.”
Raeisi warns of wider war if Israel not cease atrocities
President Ebrahim Raeisi of Iran made the remarks on Sunday in a phone call with his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron, according to a post by Mohammad Jamshidi, the political deputy at the office of the President published on his X account, formerly known as Twitter.
Receiving the telephone call from Emmanuel Macron, Iran’s President warned against the consequences of the ongoing developments in the Gaza Strip.
If the Zionist regime’s crimes, including the killing of people and the blockade of Gaza, are not ceased, the situation will become more complicated and the batlle will broaden.
As many as 2,269 people, including over 700 Palestinian children, have been so far killed and 9,814 others injured since the regime launched its bloody aggression against the coastal territory.
In its latest updated figures released by the Zionist regime’s army, on Sunday morning it said that the number of soldiers killed during the Al-Aqsa Storm operation increased to 286.
A total of more than 1300 Zionist settlers and soldiers have been killed in the Al-Aqsa Storm operation launched by Hamas last Saturday.
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Iran cannot remain bystander in face of Israel onslaught
“We announced to the Zionist regime, through its supporters, that if it does not stop its crimes in Gaza, tomorrow will be too late,” Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said in an interview with Aljazeera while on a Qatar visit on Sunday.
Iran cannot just watch this situation as a bystander. If the scope of the war expands, heavy losses will be inflicted on the United States, Amir-Abdollahian further warned.
Iran’s foreign minister expressed hope that political efforts will prevent the spread of war.
Stating that the continuation of the Zionist attacks and the lack of a political solution will cause the situation to flare up, he pointed out the situation is likely to get out of control while the region and its players will not remain bystanders.
Israeli regime forces launched a sustained and forceful military attack against the Gaza Strip in response to a military operation last Saturday by the Palestinian group Hamas in Israel.
As many as 2,269 people, including over 700 Palestinian children, have been so far killed and 9,814 others injured since the regime launched its bloody aggression against the coastal territory.
In its latest updated figures released by the Zionist regime’s army, on Sunday morning it said that the number of soldiers killed during the Al-Aqsa Storm operation increased to 286.
A total of more than 1300 Zionist settlers and soldiers have been killed in the Al-Aqsa Storm operation launched by Hamas last Saturday.
RHM/FNA14020723000751
Exclusive: A family of 150 members in Gaza left without water, staring at death
By Hiba Morad
More than 150 members of the al-Saleha family in northern Gaza are putting up in an overcrowded building with no access to drinking water, while five members of the family who were forced to leave for southern Gaza after Israeli orders were killed on the way.
Speaking to the Press TV website on Saturday, Sara al-Saleha said the situation is alarmingly deteriorating in the besieged coastal strip amid unrelenting Israeli aerial blitz and the crippling blockade.
Electricity supply is cut and people are running out of water and gasoline as the Israeli military continues to bombard buildings in densely-populated civilian areas, killing mostly women and children.
Benjamin Netanyahu’s far-right cabinet on Friday ordered 1.1 million people in northern Gaza to leave for the south, a move which the United Nations warned is “impossible to take place without devastating humanitarian consequences.”
A large number of families tucked in cars, trucks and donkey carts with blankets and luggage streamed down a main road that leads out of Gaza City on Friday as the regime pledged they won’t be harmed.
However, Israeli warplanes soon struck vehicles moving toward the south, killing more than 100.
Saleha and her husband, who own a small three-floor building in north Gaza said they are hosting almost 150 people from close and extended family, who fled their homes seeking a “safer” place.
“Practically speaking, there is nothing such as a safe place in the Gaza Strip right now, but some people run from one place to another seeking shelter. Wherever you go, you are exposed to random Israeli strikes that have been hammering the besieged enclave,” she told the Press TV website.
“My husband refused to leave the house, he said if he is to be killed he would rather be killed at home so we did not go anywhere,” she hastened to add, as her voice choked with tears.
Two liters of water left!
Israeli regime’s energy minister Israel Katz said on Thursday they will not allow essential resources — including electricity, water and fuel — or even humanitarian aid inside the Gaza Strip, as the regime in Tel Aviv intensifies the years of blockade of the coastal strip.
“Humanitarian aid to Gaza? No electrical switch will be turned on, no water hydrant will be opened and no fuel truck will enter until the Israeli abductees are returned home. Humanitarian for humanitarian. And no one will preach us morals,” he wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Gaza-based Hamas resistance movement took hundreds of Israeli soldiers and settlers as war prisoners following the Al-Aqsa Storm operation in the wee hours of Saturday morning.
The operation was launched as a response to atrocities unleashed against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank as well as the repeated desecration of the Al-Aqsa Mosque.
The resistance movement said the prisoners would be released when the Israeli regime freed thousands of Palestinian prisoners languishing in Israeli jails without charges or trial.
“Unfortunately, the water we have in the building is not fit for use or drinking, the only water we are left with is two liters of water for more than 150 people,” Saleha told the Press TV website.
She hastened to add that most Palestinians in the Gaza Strip have already run out of electricity and water in recent days. The only thing that is helping them is solar power systems in their buildings.
Also, the majority of Gazans are presently consuming water that is not fit for use at all.
The internet connection in the north of Gaza remains extremely weak and takes sometimes hours to send or receive a message, Saleha pointed out.
“I had to go a few times to al-Shifaa Hospital to be able to get some internet connection and communicate with my family members who are stuck at the borders in south Gaza,” she remarked.
“It is hard to live and not know whether your siblings, parents and other loved ones are still alive or under piles of rubble or lying in one of the hospitals in the city with injuries and pain.”
She and her husband keep looking for water that people living in the building can use but to no avail.
Stay or leave, you die anyways
The Israeli regime’s order to evacuate the northern Gaza Strip has triggered “mass displacement” towards the south of the besieged strip, the United Nations said on Sunday.
“Mass displacement from the north to the south of the Gaza Strip has been ongoing since… Friday morning, after Israel ordered residents to evacuate the areas ahead of military operations,” the UN’s humanitarian agency OCHA said in a statement.
Many of those who took the perilous journey were killed or injured grievously on the way.
“This is how we feel in the Gaza Strip, so the Israelis are giving us two options,” Saleha told the Press TV website, narrating the scenes of unutterable horror.
“Either evacuate, flee to where we tell you so that we can bombard you and instantly kill you, or choose to experience slow death in your own homes.”
Five of her family members who decided to move following the order were targeted by an Israeli air raid and were instantly killed; she hastened to add, referring to high risks.
“Death is not a choice here in the Gaza Strip, you will ultimately die if you are living here but you have no idea where because there are no shelters in the city,” she noted, appearing distraught.
Like other Gazans that the Press TV website spoke to since Friday, Saleha said she believes the evacuation orders by the Israeli army were meant as a trick to kill more Palestinians and start another 1948 “manufactured” Nakba in order to kick out the Palestinians, displace and kill them.
Ghadeer al-Ramahi, who currently lives in London, told the Press TV website that she wakes up every single day to check if her two sisters and brother currently in the Gaza Strip are still alive or dead.
Ghadeer, who experienced the 2008 and 2012 Israeli wars imposed on Gaza, said the two wars were longer, but not as intense and violent as the current war, according to what she sees from footage and what her family members tell her.
“This is literally genocide. Some families no longer exist; the Kurd and al-Aaraj families who are very close family friends of ours are all dead, including infants. I have never seen such barbarism and I literally cannot sleep for one hour without checking my phone,” she remarked.
Ghadeer, who appeared inconsolable while speaking to the Press TV website over the phone, said she lost her cousin and his entire family in a single Israeli strike, including a two-year-old twin, whose bodies are still under the rubble after two days.
“What is the crime of my cousin and his children and wife? What did these people do? And ironically, here in the West, we see the photos of Palestinian massacres with comments saying that these are Israelis being killed by Hamas,” she stated.
Other members of her family, including her two aunts fled to the south but did not find shelter.
“They have been stranded in the middle of nowhere since they arrived to the south yesterday night and said they wish they had not listened to the Israeli orders and threats,” Ghadeer explained.
“The situation is very complicated, please pray for the people of Gaza.”
University students in Hamedan condemn Zionist regime
The liberal narrative of Palestinian resistance against Zionist occupation
By Xavier Villar
As the Israeli aggression against the besieged Gaza Strip intensifies, spawning the worst humanitarian crisis, a liberal narrative of the Palestinian resistance is again being widely used that basically condemns any form of Palestinian response.
An example of this narrative is a statement issued a few days ago by former US presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, who is seen as a progressive voice within the political spectrum of that country.
In the statement, Sanders asserted that the situation of injustice in Palestine had been decried by “numerous institutions and individuals,” but all of this was disrupted “by Hamas’s terrorist assault,” which “put an end to any possibility of a just resolution for the Palestinian people.”
The first myth underpinning the liberal narrative on Palestine is the denial of the foundational moment of violence, which is none other than the establishment of the Zionist colonial regime in 1948.
Clearly, this wasn’t a singular isolated instance of violence, but rather an episode that repeats itself consistently on a daily basis, in various forms and manifestations.
Without taking into account that foundational moment and its daily iteration, it is impossible to comprehend the violence inflicted on Palestinians by the occupying and illegitimate regime.
The liberal myth hinges on the omission of that foundational moment and tends to focus, as in this case, on Hamas’s operation, which is perceived as “unwarranted and entirely irrational violence.”
In other words, once the structural Zionist violence is overlooked, each act of Palestinian resistance is interpreted as the initiating act of violence.
The second myth underpinning the liberal narrative is the absence of a racial analysis of the situation.
From its inception, the Zionist entity has established an ontological division between Israelis and Palestinians, resulting in a dichotomy between those deemed human and those deemed non-human.
The words of the current Israeli minister of war, Yoav Gallant, describing Palestinians as “animals,” serve as an example of this racial perspective that shapes the Zionist colonial project.
Therefore, it can be asserted that it is not possible to analyze Palestine and the Palestinian response without taking into account the Zionist racial-colonial structure.
A third liberal myth is what is commonly known as “victim-blaming.” From this perspective, it is expected that the victim be “perfect” to garner support from the liberal opinion. The moment the victim decides to take action and ceases to be passive or dormant, criticisms and condemnations are mounted.
The perfect victim is one who lacks the real capacity to exercise agency to alter the political status quo and, in any case, must be deemed “respectable” according to liberal political standards.
Therefore, it can be stated that what liberalism seeks in this “perfect victim” is to perpetually romanticize them within a state of absolute passivity.
This perspective is anti-political because it denies the possibility of changing the victim’s status and confines them to a perpetual state of oppression with no opportunity to modify it.
Perversely, the “perfect victim” transforms into the “oppressor” the moment it gains agency, as has been evident in the Palestinian case.
The above should be understood as a response stemming from white anxiety and its resistance to accepting the decentralization of the West and whiteness as universal discursive focal points.
In other words, support can be offered to victims as long as they don’t question Western discursive foundations. However, this principle does not apply to the situation in Palestine.
It’s crucial to emphasize that focusing on highlighting the alleged “imperfections” of Palestinian victims is tantamount to complicity in Zionist colonial domination.
The fourth myth on which the liberal narrative rests is the myth of the illegitimacy of armed resistance against the Zionist colonial regime.
From this perspective, it is often overlooked that Hamas was founded in 1987, two decades after the occupation of Gaza and the West Bank, and 40 years after the Zionist colonization of 1948.
Further, the fact that the collaborative strategy of the Palestinian Authority, especially under its current president Mahmoud Abbas, has failed to bring an end to illegal Zionist expansion, is also omitted.
Lastly, it’s interesting to note a type of myth that has lost its strength and was, in a way, also part of the liberal discourse. The fact that the regime depends on the most technologically advanced aircraft carrier from the United States to defend itself against attacks from the resistance movement has eroded any remnants of deterrence by the Zionist state.
The message conveyed by this American deployment is that the Zionist entity cannot confront Hamas and other members of the Axis of Resistance, particularly Lebanon’s Hezbollah resistance movement, without the assistance of the US and other Western allies.
Based on this, it can be affirmed that what has transpired in Gaza and occupied Palestine is, from a political perspective, an anti-colonial revolt expressed in Islamic and revolutionary terms.
It is precisely for this reason that the liberal approach cannot analyze the situation beyond condemning the “irrational” violence carried out by Hamas, and as observed, it also fails to identify the long-standing causes that explain the response of the Palestinian resistance.
Xavier Villar is a Ph.D. in Islamic Studies and researcher who divides his time between Spain and Iran.
(The views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of Press TV)
More countries join pro-Palestine rallies to condemn Israeli savagery in Gaza
Thousands of people in various countries across the world have held pro-Palestinian rallies in condemnation of the Israeli regime’s savagery against Palestinian people in the besieged Gaza Strip.
About 5,000 Australians, by media estimates, attended a peaceful pro-Palestinian rally in Sydney, the capital of Australia’s most populous state of New South Wales, on Sunday despite police threats to curb such demonstrations.
The Australian protesters waved Palestine flags and chanted “Free, free Palestine” as hundreds of police patrolled the area.
“We are not against Jewish people,” said Mustafa, a protester at the rally. “They have been in Palestine for a long time, side by side with the Muslims and the Christians, we are all Palestinians. We are against the Zionists.”
Thousands also held pro-Palestine rallies in Adelaide, the capital of South Australia, and in the Victorian state capital of Melbourne.
The cities of Rome in Italy and Berlin in Germany were also the scene of protests against the Israeli crimes in Gaza on Sunday.
Thousands of pro-Palestinian demonstrators marched in central London a day earlier and called for an end to Israel’s military action in the besieged Gaza Strip.
The protesters, many of them waving Palestinian flags and signs saying “Free Palestine,” gathered close to Oxford Circus from where they headed to Downing Street.
Also on Sunday, Turkish protesters in two of the country’s largest cities voiced their support for Palestinians and condemned Israel’s war on Gaza.
The crowd in Istanbul marched from the Beyazit Mosque to the Hagia Sophia, chanting slogans against Israel. In Ankara, protesters in Anitpark waved Palestinian and Turkish flags.
“We see today those who see themselves as superior in the world can send their ships, tanks, planes etc. for Israel. We can only say words of condemnation. We request that this ends, for the only main topic of this century to be the salvation of Palestine, for a free Palestine, free Al-Aqsa Mosque to be left to the coming generations,” said 37-year-old small business owner, Baris Akbas.
Media reports said Egypt, Morocco, Malaysia, Jordan, Lebanon, Canada and the United States also held rallies in support of Palestine.
Palestinian resistance movement Hamas launched Operation Al-Aqsa Storm last Saturday, penetrating deep into the territories occupied by the Israel regime, by carrying out large-scale air, land, and sea strikes.
The group said the operation was a reaction to the recurring desecration of the al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied al-Quds as well as intensified Israeli atrocities against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.
Israel responded with intensive air strikes on civilian targets in the Gaza Strip, killing at least 2,329 Palestinians in Gaza and wounding 9,714 others, according to the territory’s health ministry.
The regime has intensified the siege of Gaza, leaving the city, home to more than 2.3 million Palestinians, without water, electricity, and internet.
