Israeli Siege of Gaza Amounts to War Crime: Iran’s FM

In a telephone conversation with President of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) Mirjana Spoljaric Egger on Wednesday, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian roundly condemned the Zionist regime’s tightened siege on the Gaza Strip.

He decried the Israeli regime’s move to bomb residential buildings, hospitals and schools in Gaza, cut off water and electricity to the enclave, and prevent the delivery of fuel and foodstuff to Palestinians as an example of “collective punishment and systematic war crime against humanity.”

Amirabdollahian warned that the Zionist regime and its sponsors are held accountable for the deterioration of the situation in Gaza.

He further expressed the Iranian Red Crescent Society’s readiness to send humanitarian aid to Gaza after coordination with the International Committee of the Red Cross.

Iran has also called on Muslim nations to provide the Gaza Strip with humanitarian supplies, he noted.

For her part, Spoljaric said the ICRC is monitoring the catastrophic conditions in Gaza, but its personnel have not been able to move freely in the area due to security reasons.

She appealed to all influential parties and governments to help the ICRC play its impartial and humanitarian role and fulfill its duties in Gaza.

The Swiss diplomat added that the ICRC will receive Gaza-bound humanitarian aid from Iran as soon as the situation improves.

The Israeli regime has been pounding the Gaza Strip for a fifth day, killing at least 1,055 Palestinians.

Officials in Gaza say the enclave is facing an imminent humanitarian catastrophe with the power plant shutting down completely within hours due to the depletion of fuel.

The Zionist regime has pledged to launch a ground offensive in Gaza following Hamas’s surprise Al-Aqsa Storm operation.