TEHRAN - Major General Mohammad Baqeri, Iran’s armed forces chief on Wednesday called on international organizations and human rights groups to speak out against the Israeli slaughter of innocent civilians and to put an end to the genocide being carried out by the occupation regime.

In the midst of its ceaseless assault on the beleaguered Gaza Strip, on Tuesday night Israel bombarded the al-Ahli al-Arab Hospital in central Gaza killing at least 500 people, most of whom were women and children.

Condemning the assault on the hospital, the senior commander pointed out that staying silent on Israeli atrocities or making a purely diplomatic comment would be the same as cooperating with the murderous Zionist regime. 

Baqeri asked the United Nations to convene an extraordinary meeting to put an end to Israeli war crimes and put the senior officials of the “criminal” Tel Aviv regime on trial for their actions.

The high-ranking general also urged Muslim states to mobilize their forces and work together to stop Israel’s “insane genocide” in Gaza and to prepare the ground for the medical treatment of thousands of Palestinians, mostly women and children, injured in Israeli strikes.

In a statement on Wednesday, the army of the Islamic Republic also decried the genocide and inhumane crime of the Zionist regime. It expressed solidarity with the oppressed people of Palestine, saying that the regime should be held accountable for all heinous crimes. 

“Savage war crime”

Speaking on Tuesday, Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani denounced the massacre as a “savage war crime” and an instance of “genocide.”

“By perpetrating this bestial and appalling crime, the Zionist regime once again showed its ferocious and vicious nature to the entire people of the world,” Kanaani said.

“The regime proved that it does not show the least commitment to the principles and rules of the international law that govern the wartime,” the spokesman stressed. 

Kanaani expressed the deepest sympathies of the Iranian government and people to the Palestinian people and their resistance, stating that the tragedy will further motivate the oppressed Palestinians to “stand up for the liberation of their land from occupation.”

He called on the international community — in particular, the Security Council and the UN — to fulfill their obligation to investigate this war crime’s details as soon as possible and to bring the Israeli criminals to justice.

FM says Israel is “more hateful than Daesh”

Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian wrote on X that the time has come for “humanity to unite internationally against this bogus regime...and its killing machine,” calling the Israeli regime “more hateful than Daesh.”

“Gaza is seeing full-scale ethnic cleansing”

The massacre was also decried by Kazem Gharibabadi, secretary of Iran’s High Council for Human Rights, who accused the Israeli regime of “perpetrating full-fledged ethnic and racial cleansing in Gaza.”

“More than a thousand people were killed and wounded in cold blood in an attack by the Zionist regime on a hospital. This came on the same day that the United States of America, Britain and France vetoed a Russian-drafted resolution to stop the war,” Gharibabadi wrote in a post published on X.

“Israel exacting retribution on civilians for its defeat”

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi has also denounced the Israeli regime’s savage attack on the hospital in Gaza.

“The flames of the American-Israeli bombs that were dropped on the heads of the oppressed wounded Palestinians at Gaza’s al-Ahli Baptist Hospital would soon devour Zionists,” the president wrote in a post on X on Tuesday.

“The silence of no noble person is permissible in the face of this war crime,” Raisi added, saying the Islamic Republic had declared Wednesday a day of public mourning over the tragedy.

Raisi highlights three priorities for Gaza

In a telephone conversation with his Brazilian counterpart Lula da Silva on Tuesday, President Raisi also said the recent developments in Palestine and the Al-Aqsa Storm Operation by the Palestinian resistance groups are a reaction to the continued acts of occupation of the Zionist regime and the widespread violation of the basic rights of Palestinians, including their right to life.

“The criminal, insane and illegal actions of the Zionists against the oppressed people of Gaza not only will not help solve the problem, but will also intensify and expand the scope of conflicts to other parts of the region,” he warned.

According to Raisi, the Zionist regime is exacting retribution on Gaza’s civilian population, particularly its women and children, for its defeat.

“The quick cessation of the bombing of residential areas and the killing of oppressed women and children in Gaza, as well as the immediate lifting of the blockade of this area are what we emphasize,” Raisi said, denouncing the barbaric act of the Zionists in cutting off water and electricity and preventing the entry of fuel, food, and medicine into the besieged enclave.

The president of Iran stressed that all nations must take part in responding to the Zionist regime’s activities, describing them as an obvious example of war crimes against humanity.

Raisi stated, “Brazil is expected to play a role in establishing a ceasefire and stopping the attacks on Gaza, as well as being the voice of the international community to confront unilateralism in the world and the Islamic Republic of Iran is also ready to participate and cooperate in this field,” referring to the significance of Brazil’s role as the rotating president of the UN Security Council and one of the powerful nations in BRICS.

The three fundamental and crucial steps to managing the situation in the region, according to Raisi, are an immediate cessation of all bombing raids on Gaza, implementing a truce, and removing the siege on Gaza.

Da Silva, for his part, said he agrees with the Iranian president on the roots of the Gaza issue and emphasized the importance of immediately stopping the attacks on Gaza, establishing a truce, and reopening the gates and routes to Gaza to transfer humanitarian supplies.

The Brazilian president also called the Zionist regime’s policy of forcibly relocating Gaza inhabitants “impossible and unacceptable,” adding that the Zionists target vulnerable women and children and demolish schools and clinics under the guise of attacking resistance groups.