NOURNEWS- The following headlines appeared in English-language newspapers in the Iranian capital on Monday, November 6, 2023.
IRAN DAILY:
-- Iran enjoys ‘unique position’ in China’s New Silk Road project: VP
Iran’s Vice President Mohammad Mokhber said the country has a “unique” position in China’s giant New Silk Road project, also known as the Belt and Road Initiative.
Speaking at the opening ceremony of the 6th China International Import Expo (CIIE) and the Hongqiao International Economic Forum in Shanghai on Sunday, Mokhber enumerated Iran’s capacities in the fields of economy, oil and gas resources, minerals and human development index, Press TV reported.
“Iran’s position and infrastructure is unique in the Silk Road,” he said, referring to the giant project that involves a wave of Chinese funding for infrastructure projects around the world, in a bid to speed Chinese goods to markets further afield.
Mokhber also noted that Iran is geographically situated “at the connection center of the Middle East, Asia and Europe,” with land and maritime borders with 15 countries and a population of over 600 million.
“It also has 2,700 kilometers of maritime borders, long beaches, Chabahar and Jask ocean ports, as well as a corridor route between the Persian Gulf, the Sea of Oman and the Caspian Sea, and transit infrastructure along the Silk Road,” he added.
“In terms of its geo-political situation, Iran connects East and Southeast Asia to Europe and vice versa as a historical and economic bridge.”
CIIE is a six-day multi-sector trade show for imported products from all over the world and is the largest event on China’s international trade calendar. The annual event was launched by Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2018 to promote the country’s free trade credentials and tackle criticism of its trade surplus with many partners.
Opening Iran’s pavilion
Following the inauguration ceremony, Mokhber, accompanied by the prime ministers of China, Cuba, Australia, Serbia, Kazakhstan, African countries and a group of managers of international organizations, visited Iran’s pavilion at the CIIE 2023.
Iran and China have long been civilizational neighbors as well as capable partners in the field of commercial and economic interactions, the first vice president said.
The active presence of Iranian companies and economic bodies in the CIIE shows the mutual will and favorable conditions for making fruitful leaps in the relations between the two countries, Mokhber added.
More than 50 companies and 250 Iranian businessmen participated in the event.
On the sidelines of the CIIE 2023, Mokhber discussed the development of bilateral economic cooperation with Manuel Marrero Cruz, the prime minister of Cuba on Sunday.
The level of economic relations does not correspond to the political relations of the two countries, as there are many areas of cooperation between Tehran and Havana, while the capacities of the two countries complement each other, the Iranian official said.
Iran’s ‘significant’ volume of exports to China
Speaking before his trip, Mokhber said that Iran has a “significant” volume of exports to China and that the two countries enjoy a good trade balance.
He also hailed strategic relations and proper cooperation between Tehran and Beijing in different sectors.
President Ebrahim Raisi’s visit to China led to good understandings and agreements that need to be followed up, he said, stressing the need to remove obstacles to fully implement the agreements.
‘CIIE can help expand Iran’s exports to China’
Meanwhile, Mehdi Safari, Iranian deputy foreign minister for economic affairs, said that CIIE can help expand Iran’s exports to China by $2 billion to $3 billion. China is one of the target countries for Iran’s exports, while good agreements have been reached to boost trade, he told IRNA news agency. Iran’s trade with China reached almost $16 billion in 2022, up seven percent from 2021.
-- Iran to overcome obstacles for Indian investment in Chabahar port
Iran is to remove the legal obstacles to continue the implementation of the long-term agreement with India for the development of Chabahar as quickly as possible so that the country’s investment in Chabahar port can resume, said Esmaiel Hossein-Zehi, the vice chairman of the Construction Commission of the Islamic Council.
In an exclusive interview with Iran Daily, Hossein-Zehi explained that for several years, the Indians have expressed their willingness to invest in the development of the export capacity of Chabahar port. Based on this, a cooperation agreement was signed between the two countries. However, during this time, the port development operations have not progressed according to plan.
Iran and India’s cooperation for the development of Chabahar port was formalized through an agreement in 2016, with India committing to invest $500 million in the development of Shahid Beheshti port in Chabahar. The development of Shahid Beheshti port strengthens Iran’s north-south corridor, and is not only important for Iran but also holds significance in terms of fast and cost-effective transportation of goods for countries in the Caucasus region, as well as from India to China.
The planning and development studies of Shahid Beheshti port in Chabahar were carried out as part of the Chabahar Port Development Project, in five phases, with a minimum capacity of 80 million tons per year. However, to date, only the first phase of the port, with a capacity of eight million tons per year, has become operational since 2017. Since the port was exempted from the sanctions, it was expected to progress rapidly but it has progressed slowly.
It appears that the Indians have not been in a hurry to fulfill their commitments at Chabahar port. Some critics believe that India, from the beginning, was not the right choice for cooperation in the development of Chabahar port; and that China should have been used instead. India is said to have oriented its foreign policy towards expanding relations with the United States and, as a result, it lacks motivation for cooperation in the development of Chabahar port.
China was willing to invest in Chabahar port from the beginning of the Chabahar port project, but since Iran had already entered into a contract with India, the possibility of the cooperation did not materialize, Hossein-Zehi noted.
It seems that both sides have legal disputes with each other, for example, on issues like how to resolve disagreements that may arise in the execution of the contract at any given time, and who should arbitrate. Naturally, both countries pursue their own interests in the cooperation, and there must be specific regulations and institutions in place that can arbitrate between the two parties and enforce their authority, the official added.
Hossein-Zehi described Chabahar as one of the country’s important and strategic ports, adding that Chabahar is a port that opens up to the world’s high seas but, so far, we have not been able to fully utilize its export capacities.
Given the considerable distance between Chabahar and the central part of Iran, and even Khorasan Province in the north, the country should provide road and rail transportation capacities so that goods can be swiftly transported from various parts of the country to the port.
Unfortunately, currently a significant part of the exporting goods from various parts of the country is transferred to Bandar Imam or Bandar Abbas, and then reloaded towards Chabahar. However, some steps should be taken to transport goods directly to Chabahar.
Direct transportation of some goods, including livestock and mineral products, to Chabahar port is underway at the moment, and since Chabahar port has the capability to accommodate 8,000-ton ships, the government should facilitate the direct shipment of other goods to this port as well.
Currently, less than five percent of the country’s maritime exports are conducted through Chabahar. However, considering the capacities of the port, the figure can be increased to 70 percent.
-- Seven-month transit up by 22%
Recently published figures show that 7.917 million tons of goods have been transited from Iran during the first seven months of the current Iranian calendar year (started March 21), which indicates a 22% growth compared to the same period last year, said the Deputy Minister of Roads and Urban Development Shahriar Afandizadeh.
During the seven-month period, the transits of oil and non-oil goods have shown a 34.12% increase with 2.387 million tons and a 17.49% increase with 5.530 million tons, respectively, compared to last year, according to ISNA.
The road transport sector saw approximately 90% of the total transit from the country, equivalent to 7.121 million tons, while rail transport’s share was only 796,000 tons. The country’s road transport witnessed a 25.76% growth compared to the same period last year.
Iran recorded 1.377 million tons of transit from September 23 to October 22 of 2023, marking a year-on-year increase of 74%.
During that one-month period, road transit of both oil and non-oil goods demonstrated a growth of 182.7% and 48.1% with figures of 413.864 tons and 821.775 tons, respectively, compared to the corresponding period of 2022.
Oil and non-oil goods transited via rail from the country in the month from September 23, 2023, were registered at 142,000 tons, showing a 57.06% growth.
-- Leader: Iran’s permanent policy is to support Palestinian resistance
Fighting raged in Gaza on Sunday for the 30th day as Israel’s heavy bombardment of Gaza has intensified, particularly in the north where many civilians remain trapped and unable to flee.
Israel has relentlessly bombarded the Gaza Strip and sent in ground troops, with the Health Ministry in the Hamas-run Palestinian territory saying 9,770 people have been killed, nearly half of them – at least 4,800 – children.
The Hamas-run Health Ministry said at least 45 people were killed in an Israeli strike on the Al-Maghazi refugee camp in central Gaza late Saturday.
Earlier on Saturday, the Health Ministry said at least 15 people were killed when Israel struck the Al-Fakhura school in Jabalia refugee camp, operated by the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees UNRWA.
Thousands of displaced Palestinians were sheltering at the school in the north of the Palestinian territory when it was hit, a ministry spokesperson said.
Leaflets dropped by the Israeli Army again urged Gaza City residents to evacuate south between 10 a.m. (0800 GMT) and 2 p.m. (1200 GMT), a day after a US official said at least 350,000 civilians remained in and around the city that is now an urban war zone.
Support for resistance groups
Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei told the top official in the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas that Tehran will continue to support groups fighting the Zionist regime as a matter of policy.
“Supporting the Palestinian resistance forces vis-à-vis the Zionist occupiers is the Islamic Republic of Iran’s permanent policy,” Ayatollah Khamenei said in a recent meeting with the chairman of the Hamas political bureau Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran, according to a Sunday report by the official IRNA news agency.
The leader said in the meeting that the Israeli regime is enjoying the support of the US and its allies in Europe in its ongoing war on Gaza. “The Zionist regime’s crimes in Gaza are directly supported by the US and certain Western governments.”
During the meeting, Haniyeh briefed the Leader about the latest developments in Gaza and the crimes committed by the regime in the besieged territory as well as the situation in the occupied West Bank.
West Bank violence
Israel is also killing Palestinians in the West Bank, where violence is flaring since the start of the Israel-Hamas war. Three Palestinians were killed on Sunday by Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank.
Two Palestinians, aged 22 and 20, were killed in Abu Dis, a suburb of East Al-Quds, while another was killed in Nuba, to the south, the ministry said.
The Israeli Army claimed in a statement the raids were part of its operations against the Hamas organization.
Humanitarian aid plea
The World Food Programme appealed for more aid for Gaza, stressing that trucks allowed in so far are no match for needs on the ground.
The agency’s head, Cindy McCain, said on Sunday after a visit to Rafah border crossing between Egypt and the Palestinian territory that “the suffering just meters away is unfathomable standing on this (the Egyptian) side of the border”.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who is in the region, faced a rising tide of anger in meetings with Arab foreign ministers in Jordan on Saturday.
On Sunday, Blinken met with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in a surprise visit to Ramallah, as concern grows over rising violence in the occupied West Bank.
The pair discussed the need to stop extremist violence against Palestinians in the West Bank, a State Department spokesman said, while Blinken also stressed that Palestinians in Gaza “must not be forcibly displaced”.
‘Comprehensive political solution’
Abbas denounced “the genocide and destruction suffered by our Palestinian people in Gaza at the hands of Israel’s war machine, with no regard for the principles of international law,” according to the official Palestinian news agency Wafa.
Abbas said Sunday the Palestinian Authority could return to power in Gaza only if a “comprehensive political solution” is found for the Israel-Palestinian conflict.
Abbas told Blinken that the PA will “fully assume our responsibilities within the framework of a comprehensive political solution that includes all of the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip”.
Gaza legitimate gov’t
Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi said on Saturday that Hamas is the legal, elected and legitimate government of Gaza.
During a telephone conversation with Norway’s Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre on Saturday night, Raisi welcomed Oslo’s position on the need for an immediate end to Israel’s killing of civilians in Gaza as well as international efforts to lift the siege on the coastal enclave and deliver aid to its residents.
“Hamas is the legal, elected and legitimate government of Gaza,” he said. “The war against Hamas is a war on democracy.”
Pro-Palestinian rallies
Pro-Palestinian protesters once again took to the streets of many cities across the world to demand an end to Israel’s brutal attacks on the Palestinian territory.
Demonstrators staged protests in London, Berlin, Paris, Ankara, Istanbul and Washington on Saturday to call for a cease-fire in Gaza and castigate Israel after its military intensified its assault against Hamas.
In London, television footage showed large crowds holding sit-down protests blocking parts of the city center, before marching to Trafalgar Square.
Protesters held “Freedom for Palestine” placards and chanted “cease-fire now” and “in our thousands, in our millions, we are all Palestinians”.
Police said they made 29 arrests for offences including inciting racial hatred and racially aggravated public order.
Britain has supported Israel’s right to defend itself after Hamas killed 1,400 people in an Oct. 7 assault in southern Israel.
Echoing Washington’s stance, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s government has stopped short of calling for a cease-fire, and instead advocated humanitarian pauses to allow aid into Gaza.
Thousands of protesters marched down the streets of Washington waving Palestinian flags, some chanting “Biden, Biden you cannot hide, you signed up for genocide,” before congregating at Freedom Plaza, steps away from the White House.
Speakers denounced President Joe Biden’s support of Israel, declaring “you have blood on your hands”. Some vowed not to support Biden’s bid for a second term in the White House next year as well as campaigns by other Democrats seeking office, calling them “two-faced” liberals who were “not a refuge from right wingers”.
Others lashed out at civil rights leaders for not condemning the killing of women and children by Israeli bombings.
Protests in Paris
In central Paris, thousands marched to call for a cease-fire with placards reading “Stop the cycle of violence” and “To do nothing, to say nothing is to be complicit”.
It was one of the first, big gatherings in support of Palestinians to be legally allowed in Paris since Oct. 7.
French authorities had banned some previous pro-Palestinian gatherings due to concerns about public disorder.
France will host an international humanitarian conference on Gaza on Nov. 9 as it looks to coordinate aid for the enclave.
Wahid Barek, a 66-year old retiree, lamented the deaths of both Israeli and Palestinian civilians.
“I deplore civilian deaths on both sides. Civilians have nothing to do with these actions. It really is shameful,” he said.
In Berlin, demonstrators waved Palestinian flags, demanding a cease-fire.
Hundreds of protesters also gathered in Istanbul and Ankara.
Turkey, which has sharply criticized Israel and Western countries as the humanitarian crisis has intensified in Gaza, supports a two-state solution and hosts members of Hamas.
Footage from Ankara showed protesters gathered near the U.S. Embassy, chanting slogans and holding posters which read: “Israel bombs hospitals, Biden pays for it”.
Indonesians also took part in a mass rally in support of Palestinians in Jakarta on Sunday.
KAYHAN INTERNATIONAL:
-- UN Special Envoy for Yemen in Tehran
Iranian Foreign Minister Hussein Amir-Abdollahian on Sunday met here with the UN special envoy for Yemen Hans Grundberg to discuss the latest situation in the Arab country.
Yemen has been under attack by Saudi Arabia and its allies since March 2015. There has been a lull in the fighting in recent months amid negotiations for peace. Iran has repeatedly called for the cessation of hostilities and for finding a political solution to the political disputes in Yemen.
-- Iran FM Hails ‘Courageous’ Indonesian Counterpart
Iranian Foreign Minister Hussein Amir-Abdollahian on Sunday hailed the massive gathering of Indonesians in support of the people of Palestine, saying the consensus formed in global public opinion against the occupying regime is irreversible.
Amir-Abdollahian also admired the “courageous” speech of Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi during the rally. “The consensus formed in the public opinion of the world against the Zionists is irreversible,” he wrote on X.
-- Millions Rally Across World to Condemn Zionist Genocide
Over two million protesters gathered at the National Monument in Indonesia on Sunday to express solidarity with Palestinians and call for an end to Israel’s bombing of the besieged Gaza Strip.
Indonesia has been a staunch supporter of Palestine for decades, with its people and authorities seeing Palestinian statehood as mandated by their own constitution, which calls for the abolition of colonialism.
Since the beginning of the Israeli invasion of Gaza, Indonesians have been taking to the streets in protests to show their support, with activists declaring November as Palestine Solidarity Month.
On Sunday morning, Indonesians dressed in white and wore traditional Palestinian scarves as they crowded the National Monument square, waving Palestinian flags, carrying posters, and chanting slogans calling for a ceasefire in Gaza and a free Palestine, making it the biggest pro-Palestine demonstration the country has seen so far.
The interfaith rally was organized by the Indonesian Ulema Council with the support of other main religious organizations, including Christians and Buddhists. It was attended by government officials and prominent public figures, including Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi.
“Every 10 minutes, a child is killed in Gaza. Thousands of parents have lost their children, while thousands of children have lost their parents,” Marsudi said as she addressed the crowd.
“My Indonesia and I will never back down from helping. My Indonesia and I will always be with you until the colonizers leave your home. Palestine, you are my brother. And I, and my Indonesia, will always be with you.”
The Southeast Asian nation has no diplomatic relations with Israel, and the Indonesian government has repeatedly called for an end to the occupation of Palestinian territories and for a two-state solution based on pre-1967 borders.
“On behalf of the Indonesian government, we want to reaffirm Indonesia’s support for the struggle of the Palestinian nation. Ladies and gentlemen, we gather here today in diversity to show our solidarity for humanity,” Marsudi said.
Tens of thousands of people rallied in the capital of the United States to demand a ceasefire in Gaza as Washington continues to resist calls for an end to the war despite the mounting death toll.
The demonstrators in Washington, DC directed their anger towards President Joe Biden, accusing him of enabling genocide against Palestinians.
“Biden, Biden, you can’t hide; we charge you with genocide,” the protesters chanted.
United Nations experts have warned of a growing risk of genocide in Gaza amid the Zionist regime’s brutal bombardment of the enclave.
Turkish police used teargas and water cannon to disperse a pro-Palestinian rally outside the Incirlik airbase, hours before the arrival in Ankara of Washington’s top diplomat.
Images posted on social media showed hundreds of people waving Palestinian flags being chased by police and security forces outside the strategic airbase, which also houses U.S. forces.
The local Demiroren news agency reported that police had allowed the protesters to hold a demonstration in a designated area but some allegedly tried to enter the facility.
The Incirlik airbase in southeast Turkey is used by the U.S. Air Force and occasionally the UK’s Royal Air Force, providing them with strategic access to large parts of West Asia.
Sunday’s protest was organized
by the IHH humanitarian relief fund, which in 2010 led a flotilla to Gaza that sparked Israeli raids in which 10 civilians died.
According to reports, the protest was timed to coincide with a visit to Ankara by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who is due to meet Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan on Monday.
A separate protest was held on Sunday in Ankara, where thousands of Turks raised banners calling for the re-establishment of an Islamic state to replace the democratic system in Turkey, in response to the conflict in Gaza.
On Saturday, Turkey said it was recalling its ambassador to Israel for consultations over Israel’s sustained bombing of civilians in the Gaza Strip and the deteriorating humanitarian situation in the besieged enclave.
On Friday, President Recep Erdogan had said he was breaking off contact with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, but added this did not mean Turkey was severing relations with Israel.
In the German capital, thousands of people took to the streets in support of Palestinians and to demand a halt to Israel’s bombardment of the Gaza Strip. The rally took place under strict police supervision.
Protesters voicing support for residents of the Gaza Strip also gathered at rallies in more than two dozen cities across Canada, including Victoria and Nanaimo.
The protests in Canada, which included Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa and Fredericton, were launched after a call by the Palestinian Youth Movement for a national day of demonstrations.
-- Zionist Minister: Nuking Gaza Strip ‘an Option’
The occupying regime of Israel’s
Al-Quds affairs and heritage minister Amichai Eliyahu said on Sunday that dropping a nuclear weapon on the Gaza Strip is “an option”, according to Haaretz.
The extremist minister made the comments in a radio interview during which he maintained that “there are no non-combatants in Gaza”, adding that providing humanitarian aid to the strip would constitute “a failure”.
Eliyahu was then asked if, since there are no non-combatants in his view, a nuclear attack on the Gaza Strip is an option. “That’s one way,” he responded.
When asked about the fate of Palestinians, he said: “They can go to Ireland or deserts, the monsters in Gaza should find a solution by themselves.”
He also said the Gaza Strip has no right to exist, adding that anyone waving a Palestinian or Hamas flag “shouldn’t continue living on the face of the earth”.
The remarks were heavily criticized online. After making the comments, the minister took to social media platform X, formerly Twitter, to say that his comments were “metaphorical”.
He added: “However, a strong and disproportionate response to terrorism is definitely required, which will clarify to the Nazis and their supporters that terrorism is not worthwhile.”
The minister was later suspended from cabinet meetings indefinitely, Israeli media reported, citing a statement by the prime minister’s office.
However, Zionist ministers reportedly said that prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s suspension of Eliyahu is “meaningless”.
“This is a joke, there barely are any cabinet meetings anyway, and most of the work is being done in rounds of votes by phone,” an unnamed minister is quoted as saying by the Ynet news site.
This is not the first time Israeli leaders and ministers have deployed dehumanizing and incendiary rhetoric in public and used the language of collective punishment when describing their military response to Hamas’s unprecedented operation inside Israeli occupied territories on October 7.
Palestinians have been described as “human animals” and “beasts”, with one former Israeli general saying his military “must create an unprecedented humanitarian disaster in Gaza”.
The Zionist military has decimated entire neighborhoods, and continuously targeted hospitals, bakeries, civilian infrastructure, mosques, and schools sheltering thousands of displaced people. It also laid a total siege on the already-blockaded enclave.
Netanyahu and other politicians have spoken in apocalyptic terms about enacting revenge.
“We will destroy them and we will forcefully avenge this dark day that they have forced on Israel and its citizens,” Netanyahu said on October 8.
Saudi Arabia condemned Eliyahu’s remarks “in the strongest terms”, saying such statements show the spread of “extremism and brutality” among members of the Zionist regime.
Palestine’s Foreign Ministry also condemned the comments, saying that “these remarks are a translation of the genocidal war that Israel has been waging against the Gaza Strip for 30 days.”
According to Euro-Med Monitor, the occupying regime of Israel has dropped more than 25,000 tonnes of explosives on the Gaza Strip since the start of its large-scale war on October 7, equivalent to two nuclear bombs.
According to the Geneva-based human rights organization, the Zionist army has admitted to bombing over 12,000 targets in the Gaza Strip, with a record tally of bombs exceeding 10 kilograms of explosives per individual.
Euro-Med Monitor highlighted that the weight of the nuclear
bombs dropped by the United States on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan at the end of World War II in August 1945 was estimated at about 15,000 tonnes of explosives.
“Due to technological developments affecting the potency of bombs, the explosives dropped on Gaza may be twice as powerful as a nuclear bomb,” the monitor said.
-- Zionist Airstrikes Hit Three Gaza Hospitals in 24 Hours
U.S. top diplomat Antony Blinken visited the occupied West Bank on Sunday as part of a whirlwind tour as the occupying regime of Israel continued with its most brutal atrocities yet in besieged Gaza.
The Zionist regime bombed the Al-Biraj camp and school in central Gaza, according to Al Jazeera Arabic. It was the third refugee camp to have been hit in the last 24 hours after Al-Maghazi and Jabalia.
Blinken met Palestinian Authority president Mahmud Abbas who denounced what he labeled a “genocide” in Gaza, where the Hamas-run health ministry said at least 9,770 people had been martyred in more than four weeks of war. The figure includes 4,800 children, while more than 24,000 others in Gaza have been wounded.
Washington has rebuffed calls for a ceasefire and backed the Zionist regime’s ferocious campaign of decimating the whole Gaza City.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected calls for a ceasefire in Gaza until all of the more than 240 captives are returned.
Ground battles raged again in northern Gaza, where Zionists troops are facing a stiff resistance from Palestinian fighters in Gaza City. Soldiers were seen engaged in house-to-house invasion as tanks and armored bulldozers churned through the sand and attacked frequently in footage released by the resistance.
“This strike is like an earthquake,” Gaza City resident Alaa Abu Hasera said while surveying
damaged buildings in the devastated area where entire blocks have been reduced to rubble.
The occupying regime of Israel has repeatedly urged Palestinians in northern Gaza to head south, in leaflets and text messages, but a U.S. official said at least 350,000 civilians remained in what is now an urban war zone.
Wounded Palestinians and foreign passport holders attempting to evacuate through the Rafah crossing were prevented from doing so, due to Israeli bombings, according to medical and security sources who spoke to Reuters.
One of the security sources and the medical source said the evacuations were suspended after an Israeli strike on Friday on an ambulance in Gaza being used to transport wounded people.
Abbas denounced “the genocide and destruction suffered by our Palestinian people in Gaza at the hands of Israel’s war machine, with no regard for the principles of international law,” according to the official Palestinian news agency Wafa.
The Zionist regime has ceaselessly pounded the besieged Gaza Strip, leveling entire city blocks and killing thousands, mostly women and children, according to the Palestinian health ministry.
“Right now, parents in Gaza do not know whether they can feed their children today and whether they will even survive to see tomorrow,” said Cindy McCain, head of the World Food Program.
Blinken last week told a Senate hearing Abbas’s Palestinian Authority should retake control of Gaza after the war. It currently exercises only limited autonomy in parts of the West Bank and Netanyahu has long sought to sideline it.
The war has exacerbated tensions in the West Bank, where more than 150 Palestinians have been martyred in clashes with Israeli forces and in settler attacks, according to the Palestinian health ministry.
In the West Bank city of Jenin, bulldozers on Sunday cleared the smoke-blackened rubble of buildings officials said were burnt in a nighttime Israeli raid.
The health ministry said Israeli bombing of Al-Maghazi refugee camp late Saturday martyred 45 people, with an eyewitness reporting children dead and homes smashed.
One person was wounded after a rocket that was fired from Lebanon landed near Kibbutz Yiftah, next to the Lebanese border, according to Israeli media.
-- U.S. to be ‘Hit Hard’ if Gaza War Continues
Iran’s defense minister on Sunday warned that the U.S. would be “hit hard” if it did not implement a ceasefire in Gaza.
“Our advice to the Americans is to immediately stop the war and implement a ceasefire, otherwise you will be hit hard,” the Tasnim news agency quoted Mohammad-Reza Ashtiani as saying.
Iran considers the U.S. to be “militarily-involved” in the conflict.
“We have always recommended the Americans not to support the Zionist regime,” Gen. Ashtiani said.
The minister said the United States has made several strategic mistakes, particularly in West Asia. Under the current circumstances, the minister added, Washington has sent messages to Iran out of desperation and fear.
The Americans along with the Israelis are now in a quagmire trying to get themselves out, he added.
On Saturday, Iran’s foreign minister said the United States’ military support for the Zionist regime is among the main reasons behind escalation of the current crisis in the West Asia region.
Hussein Amir-Abdollahian and his Iraqi counterpart Fuad Hussein discussed the latest developments over phone.
“Continuation of the Zionist regime’s war crimes and extensive massacre of civilians, especially women and children, in addition to the United States’ vast military support for the aggressor Zionist regime are major factors that have intensified the current crisis in the region,” Amir-Abdollahian said.
He said if the U.S. further intensifies the ongoing war against civilians in Gaza, the spread of the conflict will be inevitable.
For his part, the Iraqi foreign minister laid emphasis on the importance of Muslim countries’ concerted and coordinated support for the people of Palestine.
He also underlined the need to halt the Zionit regime’s attacks against Gaza and prevent further expansion of the war.
Separately, the Iranian foreign minister discussed the situation in Palestine with his Omani counterpart, Sayyid Badr Albusaidi.
The top diplomats described the humanitarian situation in Gaza as deplorable, calling for more efforts by Muslim countries and their better coordination to stop the Zionist regime’s war crimes against the oppressed people of Gaza.
The two foreign ministers also discussed the need to lift the total siege of Gaza immediately in order to pave the way for the transfer of humanitarian aid, including food, medicines, medical equipment, and fuel to the blockaded territory.
Amir-Abdollahian and Albusaidi expressed their countries’ decisive opposition to the Zionist regime’s policy of forced displacement of Gaza’s residents.
TEHRAN TIMES:
-- Hamas leader Haniyeh met Ayatollah Khamenei
Ismail Haniyeh, the Hamas political bureau chief, has met with the Leader of the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei, in Tehran. During the meeting, Ayatollah Khamenei said the support for the Palestinian resistance groups is Iran’s permanent policy. The Hamas chief also gave a report on the latest developments in Gaza and the crimes of the Zionist regime, as well as the developments in the West Bank. The Leader of the Islamic Revolution once again appreciated the patience and perseverance of the steadfast people of Gaza and expressed deep regret for the crimes of the Zionist regime, which are carried out with the direct support of the United States and some Western countries. Ayatollah Khamenei also emphasized the need for serious action by Islamic countries and international organizations and the comprehensive and practical support of Islamic governments to the people of Gaza.
-- War on Hamas tantamount to war on democracy, Raisi says
Iran’s President, Ebrahim Raisi, has emphasized that Hamas is the legitimate government of the Gaza Strip and that fighting the Palestinian resistance movement is akin to fighting a war against democracy. “Hamas is the legal, elected and legitimate government of Gaza… and the war against Hamas is a war on democracy,” Raisi said in a phone call with Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre on Saturday night. Raisi also praised Oslo’s stance on the necessity of an instant stop to Israel’s killing of civilians in Gaza and international efforts to break the siege on the coastal enclave and provide aid to its 2.3 million inhabitants. In addition, he said that Iran is willing to work with the Norwegian Justice Ministry to look into the crimes that Israel has committed in Gaza, emphasizing that the regime’s “war crimes” and the U.S.’s backing for them should not go unpunished. Raisi pointed out that the large arms and equipment transfers by the U.S. to the Zionist regime are to blame for the nearly 10,000 deaths in Gaza, including 4,000 children. “The fact that a child is killed in Gaza almost every 10 minutes is horrible and a clear example of ‘crime against humanity and genocide’. The disgusting silence of the U.S. and some European countries along with their armed support for the Zionist regime prove the West’s double standards and its obvious partnership in the Zionists’ crimes,” he continued.
-- Resistance makes no difference, whether in France or Palestine
When the German army occupied France at the beginning of World War II, France was divided into two parts. One under the leadership of Marshal Petain accepted collaboration with the occupying forces and the occupiers granted them a government under occupation without authority and power. But the other did not give in to this humiliation and chose the path of resistance. They founded the “French Resistance,” which consisted of hundreds of thousands of French men and women who fought to end Nazi occupation and paid the price for it. Without a doubt, no occupying force is willing to listen and only understands the language of force. The “French Resistance” fought for the freedom of their country, but the Nazis labeled this resistance as sabotage and terrorist operations. They held ordinary people hostage and punished them collectively and brutally for any action by the resistance forces.
-- Iranian diaspora and Gaza War: Paying homage to the Zionist master
In an article on October 26, the Haaretz newspaper tried to depict the Iranian diaspora who stand on the side of Israel as the prevalent view among the Iranians. The article titled “Wakeup call for the world: Diaspora Iranians stand by Israel after attacks” is a sheer miscalculation. Generalizing support for Israel by the diaspora, especially the monarchists, shows that Israel is not in touch with reality. Since the start of the unprecedented Operation Al-Aqsa Storm by Hamas on October 7 and the intensified Israeli barbarities under the pretext of “self-defense,” some think tanks have desperately sought ways to justify the Israeli unabated war crimes carried out in the Gaza Strip. Following the footsteps of Western think tanks, Haaretz launched a little different scenario to put the Iranian opposition’s words into the Iranian people’s mouth.
-- Israelis vent fury at leaders as Gazans rally around resistance
As the initial shock among Israelis of the al-Aqsa Storm Operation is fading away, many are turning against their Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Widespread Israeli public anger was on full display as Israeli protesters demonstrated outside Netanyahu’s residence in occupied al-Quds (Jerusalem) demanding the Israeli leader be held accountable for the failures that led to last month’s deadly attack by Hamas on Israeli military bases and settlements around the besieged Gaza Strip. Among those who participated in the protests were the family members of those being detained by Hamas who are demanding cabinet exchange the 6,000 Palestinian political prisoners being held in the regime’s jails in exchange for their family members, who include Israeli troops and settlers.
NOURNEWS