Iran Condemns Israeli Attacks on Gaza

In a statement on Tuesday, Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Nasser Kanaani categorically condemned the Israeli air strikes on Gaza that have resulted in the martyrdom of three leaders of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement and the deaths and injury of several other civilians, including women and children.

The spokesman said the attacks that have been carried out ahead of the anniversary of Al-Nakba (Catastrophe) Day reveal the aggressive Zionist regime’s frustration and weakness in the face of the heroic resistance shown by young Palestinians in the West Bank and al-Quds and also were aimed at diverting public attention from the Israeli regime’s critical and unstable domestic situation.

Kanaani also denounced the inaction and muted response from Western countries and international organizations to the escalation of the Zionist regime’s inhumane acts against the Palestinian nation in recent months as a major factor that has emboldened the apartheid Israeli regime in the continuation of its crimes.

He noted that such a silence will be marked as a “dark and shameful” action in the record of the fake advocates of human rights in history.

The Iranian spokesman finally stressed the need for immediate, effective, deterrent and coordinated action by the Islamic countries to stop the Zionist regime’s crime and killing machine.

The Israeli aircraft launched a series of targeted strikes on the Gaza Strip on Tuesday morning, days after a fiery flare-up of violence set the besieged coastal enclave on edge.

At least 12 Palestinians were killed in the strikes and 20 others were wounded, according to Palestinian reports, with a number of sites in Gaza City, Rafah and Khan Yunis targeted, among other locations.

The Israeli military said in a statement that the Islamic Jihad resistance commanders in the strikes include Khalil Bahitini, the commander of the al-Quds Brigades in the northern Gaza Strip, Tareq Ezzaldin, a spokesperson for the movement who also manages retaliatory operations in the West Bank and Gaza, and Jihad Ghanem, secretary of the movement’s military council.

Following the onset of air raids, dubbed Operation Shield and Arrow, Israeli minister of military affairs Yoav Gallant declared a “special situation at the top” and approved the call-up of reservists “for required roles according to needs.”

Highways were closed around the Gaza Strip border, railway traffic south of the city of Ashkelon was halted, and special instructions were issued by the Home Front Command to the public.

Ezzaldin was responsible for the communications between the movement and its branches in the West Bank and for transferring funds and coordinating resistance active in the occupied lands.

Ghanem was one of the most senior and veteran operatives in Islamic Jihad and served at one point as the commander of the al-Quds Brigades in the southern Gaza Strip.

In his latest position, Ghanem was responsible for coordinating the transfer of funds and weapons from the movement to Hamas.

Alongside the assassinations, six military compounds and a military position belonging to the Islamic Jihad were targeted as well.

The Islamic Jihad resistance movement confirmed that the three senior officials were killed, along with their wives and some of their children.