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A
senior commander of Iran's Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) also
warned of further action by Tehran-backed militant groups
against Israel if it did not cease its attacks.
Israel has bombarded the Palestinian territory of Gaza with air
strikes since Hamas fighters burst into Israel from the enclave
on Oct. 7 and killed 1,300 people, most of them civilians.
It has vowed to annihilate the Tehran-backed Hamas, which rules
Gaza.
But the Israeli retaliatory strikes have killed more than 2,800
Palestinians, a quarter of them children, and driven around half
of the 2.3 million Gazans from their homes. Israel has also
imposed a total blockade on the enclave, preventing food, fuel
and medical supplies from getting in.
"No one can confront Muslims and the resistance forces if the
Zionist regime's (Israel) crimes against Palestinians continue.
The bombardment of Gaza must stop immediately," Khamenei told a
group of students in Tehran.
"The world is witnessing the Zionist regime's genocide of
Palestinians in Gaza," he said to chants of "Death to Israel".
Backing the Palestinian cause has been a pillar of the Islamic
Republic since the 1979 revolution as the Shi'ite-dominated
country has sought to portray itself as a leader of the Muslim
world.
Israel, which Tehran refuses to recognise, has long accused
Iran's clerical rulers of stoking violence by supplying arms to
Hamas. Tehran says it gives moral and financial support to the
group.
"We must respond, we must react to what is happening in Gaza,"
Khamenei said.
Israeli officials should face trial for their actions against
the Palestinians in Gaza, he added.
Separately, the Revolutionary Guards deputy commander-in-chief,
Ali Fadavi, warned of more attacks by militants if Israel did
not stop what he called its atrocities in Gaza, the Fars news
agency reported.
"The resistance front's shocks against the Zionist regime will
continue until this 'cancerous tumour' is eradicated from the
world map," Fadavi said.
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi said on Monday that supporting
the Palestinians was Iran's foreign policy priority but the
militant groups make their own independent decisions.
(Writing by Parisa Hafezi, editing by Christina Fincher and
Angus MacSwan)
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