Iran: Gaza City occupation plan shows Israel’s ‘specific intent’ for genocide

In a statement on Friday, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei strongly condemned the Zionist regime’s plan to occupy Gaza City in a major escalation of the regime’s 22-month war in the besieged Palestinian territory.

He said the plan will lead to the forced displacement of people in Gaza and aims to “complete the Palestinian people’s genocide.”

He urged the International Criminal Court and the International Court of Justice to heed the threat of the complete occupation of Gaza by the Israeli criminals who are ruling over the historic land of Palestine.

Israel’s war cabinet on Friday approved a military blueprint to capture Gaza City and tighten its grip on the besieged enclave—an area it has relentlessly bombarded for months.

Baghaei added that all governments and the United Nations bear the legal and moral responsibility to stop Israel’s genocide and heinous crimes in the occupied Palestine.

He said it was “shameful” that the United States and other Western countries continue to be complicit in Israel’s crimes.

“It is a necessary step to force the Israeli regime to stop the genocide [in Gaza] and to urgently send humanitarian aid to the hungry and thirsty people of Gaza in order to end a catastrophe that has shaken the legal, normative and ethical foundations of human civilization,” the Iranian spokesperson emphasized.

He said Iran is formally calling on the Organization of Islamic Cooperation’s secretariat, Saudi Arabia as the host country, and Turkey as the current chair of the OIC Council of Ministers to convene an emergency meeting on the issue.

Iran also calls for Muslim countries’ collective measures to help the oppressed Palestinian people, Baghaei pointed out.

As of October 7, 2023, Zionist regime’s attacks on Gaza have martyred at least 61,330 Palestinians and injured another 152,045, with most of the victims being women and children.

Gaza health authorities said 197 people, including 96 children, have died of malnutrition during the war in Gaza as Zionist regime continues to impose severe restrictions on supplies of humanitarian aid amid escalation of famine crisis in the Strip.