On Tuesday, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi said in Tehran that he believed the killing of women and children in Gaza would “end” Israel’s “rule.”
He made the comments while addressing lawmakers in parliament before submitting his government’s annual budget bill for ratification.
“We will witness, God willing, the victory of Palestinians and the destruction of Israel and its fake government,” said Ebrahim Raisi.
Earlier in the day, Israel intensified its bombardment in and around Gaza’s second-largest city, as ambulances and private cars came racing into a local hospital carrying people wounded in a bloody new phase of the war in Gaza.
Under US pressure to prevent further mass casualties, Israel says it is being more precise as it widens its offensive into southern Gaza after obliterating much of the north.
Aerial bombardment and the ground offensive have already driven three-quarters of the territory’s 2.3 million people from their homes.
Israel says it must dismantle Hamas’ extensive military infrastructure and remove it from power to prevent a repeat of the October 7 attack that ignited the war.
The surprise assault through the border fence saw Hamas and other Palestinian militants kill about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and capture some 240 men, women, and children.
The fighting has brought unprecedented death and destruction to the coastal strip.
The Health Ministry in Gaza said the death toll in the territory since October 7 has surpassed 15,890 people – 70 percent of them women and children — with more than 42,000 wounded.
The ministry does not differentiate between civilian and combatant deaths.
It says hundreds have been killed or wounded since the cease-fire’s end, and many still are trapped under rubble.
