The Palestinian presidency slammed on Monday recent comments by Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei about Hamas’ al-Aqsa Flood operation that sparked Israel’s war on Gaza.
Khamenei said the war erupted at a “critical time when the enemy was seeking to carry out a plot to seize the region. The war was necessary for the region. Everyone should not pin their hopes on a ceasefire agreement in Gaza.”
Speaking from Tehran on the 35th anniversary of Khomeini’s death, Khamenei added that the operation thwarted American plots in the region and set Israel “on a path that only ends in destruction.”
In a statement, the Palestinian presidency said his remarks were a clear declaration “that the goal is sacrificing the blood of the Palestinians and the lives of thousands of children, women and the elderly.”
“Those paying the price of the Israeli war are the Palestinian people,” it stated.
More than 36,000 people have been killed and some 83,000 wounded since the eruption of the conflict on October 7, it went on to say.
The presidency added that the “destruction of Palestinian territories will not lead to the establishment of an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital.”
“The Palestinian people have been fighting and struggling for a hundred years. They don’t need wars that do not serve their aspiration for freedom and independence and for preserving Jerusalem and its Islamic and Christian sanctities,” it continued.
“We want the end of the occupation and the establishment of an independent Palestinian state, not practices that do not serve national Palestinian interests, such as the liberation of Jerusalem, and that destroy the people and displace them from lands whose identity they have struggled to preserve over the generations,” it stressed.
The presidency also slammed the United States, saying it is in “constant confrontation alone” with Israel and successive American administrations that use their veto power at the United Nations Security Council to “prevent us from obtaining our legitimate rights and that try to take Jerusalem out of the equation.”
It also condemned Washington for offering weapons and funding aimed at maintaining the Israeli occupation and preventing the establishment of an independent Palestinian state.
The Palestinian presidency often avoids getting embroiled in a dispute with Iran despite the poor relations between them. However, occasionally it lashes out at Tehran because it holds it largely responsible for the Palestinian division through its support to some armed factions, such as Hamas.
Since the eruption of the war, the presidency and the Fatah movement have twice attacked Iran, once saying that Hamas launched the war in service of an Iranian agenda, and a second time accusing it of stirring internal Palestinian chaos that only serves the Israeli occupation.
Iran, which doesn’t recognize Israel, presents itself as a main backer of Hamas, which in recent years has become part of the so-called “axis of resistance” that includes Iranian proxies in the region. Tehran has however, denied that it was involved in the October 7 attack, saying it was a purely Palestinian operation.
It has since thrown its support behind Hamas, but not become involved in a military confrontation with Israel. Hamas politburo chief Ismail Haniyeh has visited Tehran on three occasions during the war where he met with Khamenei each time.
