(Reuters) – Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian said on Thursday that the continuation of crimes against Palestinians will receive a response from “the rest of the axis” and Israel will be responsible for the consequences.
Israel has been pounding Gaza in retaliation for a Hamas rampage in Israel this week that has killed at least 1,300 people, the deadliest attack on civilians in Israeli history. More than 1,500 Palestinians have been killed.
The Iranian minister said the displacement of Palestinians and cutting water and electricity to the Gaza Strip are considered war crimes.
“Some Western officials have questioned if there is an intention to open a new front against the Zionist entity. Of course, in light of the continuation of these circumstances that are war crimes,” he said, speaking through a translator, on television upon his arrival in Beirut.
“The continuation of war crimes against Palestine and Gaza will receive a response from the rest of the axis. And naturally, the Zionist entity and its supporters will be responsible for the consequences of that,” Amirabdollahian said.
He did not specify, but the Axis of Resistance refers to an alliance among Iran, Palestinian militant groups, Syria, the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah and other factions.
(Reporting by Laila Bassam, writing by Yomna Ehab and Enas Alashray; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)
