Iranian President Ebrahim Raeisi says Israel has revealed its desperation in the face of the Palestinian resistance with its killing of three sons and four grandchildren of Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh in the Gaza Strip.
Raeisi called Haniyeh on Thursday to offer condolences over the loss in an Israeli airstrike which targeted the car in which the members of Haniyeh's family were driving in Gaza's al-Shati camp.
"This crime further revealed the brutality and child-killing nature of the atrocious Zionist regime and indicated the helplessness, desperation and failure of the Zionists in facing the resistance front," Raeisi said.
"The pretenders of human rights are accomplices of this hated regime with their silence and cowardly support of such crimes," the president added, apparently referring to the Western governments.
The three sons and four grandchildren were making family visits during the first day of the Muslim Eid al-Fitr holiday in Shati, their home refugee camp in Gaza City, on Wednesday when they were targeted.
President Raeisi "praised the patience and sacrifice of the head of the political bureau of Hamas in this painful ordeal", saying the leaders of the resistance are in the front line of the liberation of the occupied al-Quds with their sacrifices.
Haniyeh thanked the Iranian president for his expression of sympathy, saying "With these bloods, we build hope, future and freedom for our nation and ideals and the ummah."
"The Zionist criminal enemy thinks that by targeting the children of resistance leaders, it can harm our determination and our nation, while these bloods make us stronger in the path of resistance," he added.
Haniyeh stressed that the Palestinian resistance will neither hesitate nor back down in the path of liberating the holy al-Quds and al-Aqsa Mosque.
"The blood of my children and grandchildren is a sacrifice for the liberation of al-Quds al-Sharif and al-Aqsa Mosque," he said.