Demonstrations took place in Tehran and other cities to “support the oppressed children of Gaza” under the slogan “Palestine is not alone”.
Thousands of Iranians have held rallies across the country against Israel’s relentless bombing of Gaza, with a top military commander warning that Israel is heading for a long and bloody war with the Palestinian group Hamas.
Saturday’s protests in the capital Tehran and other cities took place in “support of the oppressed children of Gaza” under the slogan “Palestine is not alone”, according to local media.
Israel’s air and ground campaign has killed around 12,000 people in the Palestinian territory, including 5,000 children, according to Palestinian authorities.
Israel vowed to destroy Hamas in response to the group’s October 7 attacks, which Israeli authorities say killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and in which about 240 people were captured.
“Palestine is on the path to a war of attrition…Israel will face definitive defeat and end up in the dustbin of history,” said Commander Hossein Salami of the powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps during the rally in Tehran, which was broadcast live on state channels. TV.
“The battle is not over. The Islamic world will do whatever it must do. There are still large (unused) capabilities,” Salami said, without referring to possible moves by Iran to join the conflict.
“The Zionist regime (Israel) can no longer see peace and security. Muslims will take revenge in the name of the oppressed people of Gaza, and this revenge has no expiration date. »
In Tehran, protesters waved Palestinian flags, while others held banners reading “Down with America” and “Down with Israel,” according to the AFP news agency.
Others set Israeli flags on fire, while others waved the flags of the Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah, an ally of Iran, engaged in skirmishes on the border with Israel since October 7.
State television also showed protesters carrying white shrouds symbolizing children killed in Gaza, during marches on Monday in the run-up to World Children’s Day.
Similar protests took place in other major cities, including Shiraz, Kerman and Isfahan.
Earlier this week, hundreds of body bags were placed in Palestine Square in Tehran to protest the continued Israeli offensive on Gaza.
Iran has made support for the Palestinian cause a centerpiece of its foreign policy since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Iran, which supports Hamas financially and militarily, hailed the October 7 attacks as a “success” but denied any involvement.
He also lambasted the Israeli bombing of Gaza, calling it a “genocide,” while denouncing U.S. support for Israel.
On Saturday, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanani denounced Israeli “attacks” on hospitals in Gaza.
“Attacking hospitals conflicts with all human rights standards, international law and the Geneva Conventions and makes the criminal nature of this regime even more evident to the world,” he said on x.
His statement comes as hundreds of people flee Gaza’s main al-Shifa hospital, where more than 2,000 patients, doctors and displaced people are stuck.
Israel has stepped up its military operations inside the hospital, searching for a Hamas operations center that it says is beneath the sprawling compound – an accusation Hamas has denied.
