TEHRAN-The group cartoon exhibition “Operation al-Aqsa Storm” was launched at the College of Fine Arts, University of Basra, in Iraq on January 4.

Organized by the Khuzestan branch of the Art Bureau, the exhibition showcases 42 cartoons and caricatures by Iranian artists Mohammad Hossein Niroomand, Massoud Shojai Tabatabai, and Maziar Bijani about the continuous crimes of the Zionist regime in the Gaza Strip, Mehr reported on Saturday.

The chancellor of the College of Fine Arts, its professors and students, as well as a number of Iranian artists and officials attended the opening ceremony.

Head of Khuzestan Art Bureau Mohammad Shahbaz Gahroui, Iran's Cultural Attaché in Basra Reza Maleki, and Deputy Head of Art Bureau in International Affairs Amirnaser Javid were among the Iranian officials participating at the event.

On the sidelines of the exhibition, several workshops and meetings were held between the artists of Khuzestan and Basra to expand and consolidate the relations between them.

“Operation al-Aqsa Storm” cartoon exhibition seeks to express the sympathy of artists with the oppressed people of Palestine; while preserving and publishing valuable works in the field of resistance.

Israel’s relentless bombardment of Gaza for three months has destroyed 70% of the homes in the besieged enclave, according to the Government Media Office.

About 300,000 out of 439,000 homes have been destroyed in Israeli attacks. The 29,000 bombs dropped on the strip have targeted residential areas, Byzantine churches, hospitals, shopping malls, and all civilian infrastructure has been damaged to an extent that they cannot be repaired.

In three months, the offensive has wreaked more destruction than the razing of Syria’s Aleppo between 2012 and 2016, Ukraine’s Mariupol, or, proportionally, the Allied bombing of Germany in World War II. It has killed more civilians than the United States-led coalition did in its three-year campaign against the ISIS group.

The Israeli military campaign in Gaza, experts say, also now sits among the deadliest in recent history, killing more than 22,000 people and wounding 55,000.

The Israeli army claims it has been targeting Hamas fighters, who carried out a deadly attack called Operation al-Aqsa Storm inside Israel on October 7. Some 1,200 people were killed in that attack which triggered the current phase of the conflict.

Hamas says its attack was in response to continued Israeli blockade of Gaza and expansion of settlement in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem. Palestinians see the Israeli settlements – which are considered illegal under international law – to be the biggest hurdle in the realization of their future state.

But experts have criticized Israel for bombing Gaza – which is one of the most densely populated areas in the world housing 2.3 million people on 365 sq km of land.

Media reports and rights groups say an overwhelming majority of those killed are civilians – more than 70% of them children, women, and elderly. More than 90% of the enclave’s population is now displaced, with aid groups warning of hunger and outbreaks of disease. Delivery of aid has been restricted by Israel, worsening the crisis.

Meanwhile, the Israeli military has said little about what kinds of bombs and artillery it is using in Gaza. From blast fragments found on-site and analyses of strike footage, experts are confident that the vast majority of bombs dropped on the besieged enclave are US-made.

SS/SAB