Iran president says supports global bids for swift ceasefire in Gaza Strip

Speaking in a phone call with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday, Raisi added that Iran backs collective bids to lift the blockade on Gaza and provide aid to the oppressed Palestinian people in the war-hit territory.

“The continuation of the killing of the Palestinian people has infuriated all the free nations in the world,” the president said, warning that the killings will have “extra-regional consequences.”

It would be “unfair and unrealistic” to carry out any analysis of the recent Israeli crimes in Gaza without paying heed to the root causes, the president emphasized.

He said all nations condemn the “unacceptable” killing of the oppressed and innocent Palestinian women and children, as well as attacks on hospitals, schools, mosques, churches and residential areas.

Raisi defended the Palestinian resistance groups’ legitimate right to confront the Israeli regime’s occupation and called on all countries to support the Palestinian people’s struggle for freedom.

He said the recent surprise operation by the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas — dubbed Operation Al-Aqsa Storm — was a “natural response to the policies and criminal actions” of Israel in occupying the Palestinian territories, killing children and women, and desecrating Palestinians’ sanctities.

He criticized global double standards when it comes to condemning war crimes, adding that the European countries’ confrontation against Nazi Germany is regarded as an “admirable and heroic” act but the resistance of the Palestinian people against the child-killing and criminal Israeli regime is condemned.

The Iranian president emphasized that the United States is the “main accomplice” to the crimes the Zionists perpetrated against the Palestinian people due to Washington’s full financial, arms and intelligence support for the Tel Aviv regime.

He also criticized the US for vetoing United Nations Security Council’s resolutions aimed at halting Israel’s bombardment of Gaza.

He lashed out at the Western countries for pursuing a deceitful policy to portray an incorrect image of the developments in Gaza and secure support of other countries for the forced displacement of the Palestinian people under the false pretext of fight against terrorism.

“The mass killing of the people of Gaza is the most inhumane crime in the 21st century, which must be stopped immediately,” Raisi pointed out.

Pointing to the killing of more than 10,000 Palestinians in Gaza, most of them women and children, the president said all independent and influential countries across the world are duty-bound to prevent genocide and crime against humanity.

He also called on India, as one of the founders of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), to use all its capacities to end Israel’s crimes against the oppressed people of Gaza.

Israel launched the war on Gaza on October 7 after the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas waged the surprise Operation Al-Aqsa Storm against the occupying entity in response to the Israeli regime’s decades-long campaign of bloodletting and devastation against Palestinians.

The Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza announced on Monday that the death toll from the incessant Israeli bombardment of the coastal silver stood at 10,022 people, including 4,104 children and 2,641 women. It also said the number of those wounded over the past 31 days had risen to 25,408.

The regime has also cut off one of the most densely-populated places in the world from basic supplies, such as water, electricity, and fuel. Shortage of medical supplies and food has left 2.3 million Palestinians at risk of starvation.

For his part, the Indian prime minister expressed his concern over the difficult situation of the Gazans due to Israel’s brutal attacks and hailed Iran’s stance on Palestine.

Modi condemned Israel’s murder of the Palestinian civilians and stressed the importance of ending the regime’s attacks and reopening of the border crossings for delivery of humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza.

He emphasized that Iran plays a very important and effective role in putting an end to the killing of the Palestinian women and children and distributing aid to them.