'Progress of Washington, Tel Aviv war means new genocide in Gaza': Iran

Iran's top diplomat has slammed the Israeli regime and the United States, as its main supporter, for resuming a military campaign against the besieged Gaza Strip, warning that the progress of the war will lead to a new genocide in the Palestinian territory.

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian reacted on Friday to the resumption of Israeli attacks on Gaza, saying that "No solution exists other than open-ended ceasefire, extensive delivery of humanitarian aid and agreement on fresh exchange of prisoners."

"POWs are not released with war but are instead killed in strikes," he wrote in a post on X, former Twitter.

"Progress of the Washington and Tel Aviv war means new genocide in Gaza and West Bank. As if they are not thinking of the severe consequences of return to war," the top diplomat stressed.

Warships and carriers do not decide the fate of the war but the "Palestinian willpower and dedication" will, he said, urging the Israeli regime and the United States to "Stop the war on Gaza before it’s too late."

Israel, US, allies liable for crimes against Gazans

Nasser Kan’ani, spokesman for the Iranian Foreign Ministry, also denounced the Israeli attacks, saying that the Tel Aviv regime, the United States and their allies are liable for the atrocities being committed against Palestinians in the besieged territory.

“The political and legal responsibility for the prolongation of aggression and continued vicious massacre of Palestinians people not only rests with criminals of the Zionist regime, but also with the American administration and a few governments that support this apartheid regime,” Nasser Kan’ani wrote in a post published on X, formerly known as Twitter, on Friday.

He added, “Violation of the truce and resumption of military aggression by the Zionist regime against Gaza came minutes before US Secretary of State [Antony] Blinken departed the occupied territories. Once again, civilians, children and women are the main victims of the criminal attacks of Zionist military forces.”

The Iranian diplomat went on to note that "bloodthirsty" Israeli authorities, following the massacre of more than 15,000 Palestinians, have commenced a new round of killing under the continued support of the White House.

“Nations and the vast majority of world governments are crying out for the extension of the truce and complete cessation of the Zionist regime's attacks against Gaza and the West Bank. This is while criminal and child-killing Zionists entertain the crude fantasy of reversing the irreparable defeat and emerging victorious through killing children and women,” Kan’ani stated.

Islamic Jihad, Hamas say responding to Israeli aggression as truce expires

Several explosions and gunfire have been reported in northern Gaza as Israel said it has resumed its attacks on the besieged strip after a temporary ceasefire expired.

Spokesman for the Palestinian health ministry in Gaza, Ashraf al-Qudra, confirmed that the death toll had risen to 32 Palestinians from Israeli airstrikes since the truce ended on Friday morning. 

Qudra told AFP news agency that the dead included 10 people killed in al-Maghazi in central Gaza, nine in Rafah in the south, and five in Gaza City in the north – hours after the truce ended at 7 a.m. local time.

Meanwhile, the Qassam Brigades, Hamas’s armed wing, said it had attacked with rocket barrages the cities of Ashkelon, Sderot and Beersheba in the southern part of the 1948 Israeli-occupied territories.

On its Telegram channel, the group said the attack was “in response to the targeting of civilians”.

The al-Quds Brigades, the armed wing of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad resistance movement, announced in a statement it attacked Israeli cities and towns on Friday morning in response to “crimes against our people.”

Israel launched the war on Gaza on October 7 after the territory’s Palestinian resistance movements waged the surprise Operation al-Aqsa Storm against the occupying entity in response to the Israeli regime’s decades-long campaign of bloodletting and devastation against Palestinians.

The Israeli aggression has so far killed more than 15,000 Palestinians, most of them women and children.

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