A senior commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards warned of further action by Tehran-backed militant groups against Israel if it did not cease its war against the Hamas terrorist group.
"The resistance front’s shocks against the Zionist regime will continue until this ‘cancerous tumor’ is eradicated from the world map," deputy commander in chief Ali Fadavi said on Iranian state TV.
Separately, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei described Israel’s assault on Gaza as a genocide of Palestinians and said it must stop immediately, state TV reported on Tuesday.
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. The terrorist group has also taken at least 199 people hostage, according to Israel.
Israel has vowed to annihilate the Tehran-backed Hamas, which rules Gaza.
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 says its strikes are targeting Hamas headquarters, often hidden in civilian buildings, and that it is making "extensive efforts to avoid harming civilians."
"No one can confront Muslims and the resistance forces if the Zionist regime's 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."
Israeli officials should face trial for their actions against the Palestinians in Gaza, Khamenei added.
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.
Since Hamas's Oct. 7 attack, Iran has faced scrutiny over the extent of its involvement in the terrorist massacre. The Wall Street Journal reported that Iranian officials helped plan the attack over the course of weeks and gave the green light, but both U.S. and Israeli officials said they've yet to see direct evidence linking Iran to the attack.
Iran's leaders celebrated the terrorist attack, with Khamenei last week calling it "epic." Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi praised Hamas terrorists for their "courage, bravery, resistance, and initiative."
Raisi reportedly told Russian president Vladimir Putin during a phone call 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)