TEHRAN – Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah said on Monday that Israel’s latest war has targeted the resistance of the entire Palestinian nation.

“Everyone who thinks that the Zionist regime’s war is against Hamas is in error because this war is against the resistance and determination of the Palestinian nation,” Nasrallah said in a speech broadcast on a huge television screen to thousands of his supporters gathered in Beirut.
Nasrallah called on all Palestinian groups to unite against Israel.
“In Gaza, we are dealing with the fate of Palestine not the fate of Hamas. I urge all groups to put aside differences… and defend the rights of Palestinians.”
He also urged Arab and Islamic countries to take measures to halt Israel’s inhumane crimes.
“Once again, I ask Arab leaders to adopt a unified and authentic stance to halt these crimes against the people of Gaza.”
On Sunday, Nasrallah called on Egyptians to force their government to open the Rafah border checkpoint to allow food, water, and medicine to reach the Gazans, who are experiencing savage attacks by the Zionist regime, Al-Manar TV reported.
“The Egyptian people should take to the streets in their millions to force the regime to open the border checkpoints,” Nasrallah told the Egyptian people.
Egypt is being severely criticized for closing the Rafah border checkpoint and thus helping Israel tighten the grip on the coastal strip.
Israeli jets bombed the Gaza Strip for a third day on Monday, killing several children.
The Israeli blitz has killed over 300 Palestinians and wounded more than 1,400 others, according to Gaza medics.
Nasrallah accused certain Arab states of urging the Israelis to finish off the Hamas movement in Gaza, saying, “What is happening today in Gaza is an exact replica of what happened to us in the 2006 war.”
“The Americans and the Zionists want to impose their conditions on the Palestinians, on Lebanon, and on Syria,” Nasrallah asserted.
Israeli war minister Ehud Barak said on Monday that Israel was in an “all-out war against Hamas” as the Zionist regime continued its massive bombardment of Gaza.
Hezbollah ready for any Israeli attack
The Hezbollah leader also told Lebanese resistance fighters in southern Lebanon to be on the alert for the possibility of an Israeli attack on Lebanon.
“I have asked the brothers in the resistance in the south specifically to be present, on alert, and cautious because we are facing a criminal enemy and we don’t know the magnitude of the conspiracies,” Nasrallah added.
Muslim countries must make a serious decision: Rafsanjani
Expediency Council Chairman Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani called the people of the Gaza Strip “oppressed heroes” whose resistance will be recorded in history.
The former Iranian president made the remarks in a live interview with the Al-Alam network in Tehran on Monday.
“Islamic countries’ officials share a heavy responsibility to defend the oppressed Muslim people of Gaza,” he noted.
Rafsanjani said every effort should be made to prevent more Israeli aggression against the Palestinians, adding that Israel is shameless and can perpetrate any kind of criminal act.
Muslim countries “must make a serious decision” and stand by their decision so that such criminal acts will not happen again, he insisted.
The Zionist regime can not even tolerate Palestinians living in a small part of Palestinian territory, Rafsanjani said.
But Israel’s brutal attack on Gaza indicates that the Zionist regime is desperate, the EC chairman added.
Rafsanjani lamented the fact that the Palestinians have not received enough support, saying the humanitarian assistance from Muslim countries in comparison with the Western powers’ full support for Israel is far too little.
However, Muslim countries will one day team up to support the Palestinians, he predicted.
Iranians hold demo condemning Israeli war crimes in Gaza
Tens of thousands of people in cities across Iran held demonstrations to condemn the Zionist regime’s war crimes in the Gaza Strip and the deafening and shameful silence of certain Arab leaders in response to the Gaza tragedy.
Many officials, military commanders, MPs, and political leaders attended the demonstrations.
The demonstrators shouted “Down with the USA” and “Down with Israel” and expressed their solidarity with the Palestinians of the Gaza Strip.
Israel has blocked all the roads to Gaza. Egypt has also closed its borders with Gaza and refuses to open them despite harsh criticism from Islamic countries.
In an address to the demonstrators in Tehran, Iranian Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance Mohammad-Hossein Saffar Harandi condemned the brutal attacks on Gaza and criticized Arab countries for their silence about the Zionist regime’s crimes.
He urged the international community and world bodies to take measures to alleviate the suffering of the people of Gaza and halt Israel’s crimes.
Other nations also angrily condemned Israel on Monday over the air attacks on the Gaza Strip.
In Greece, riot police fired tear gas to keep protesters away from the Israeli Embassy during a demonstration against the Israeli offensive. Some protesters beat shoes against photographs of the U.S. president, AFP reported.
Demonstrators marched through the Swedish capital Stockholm to protest against the air attacks on Gaza. The demonstrators waved banners and shouted “Close the embassy,” “Gaza solidarity,” and “Israel, murderer” and set fire to an Israeli flag with a swastika painted on it.
South Africa summoned the Israeli ambassador to express its “grave concern” at “the brutal assault” on Gaza, an official statement said.
Saudi Arabia sent two hospital aircraft with medical personnel to Gaza to help the injured and to evacuate the severely wounded to its hospitals.
Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim nation, also offered medical assistance, and joined Afghanistan, Malaysia, Pakistan, and other Muslim nations in condemning Israel.
Algeria sent 61 tons of food and medicine to Gaza on Monday and three cargo planes are to leave for Cairo on Tuesday with more than 60 tons of food, medicine and medical equipment, Minister for National Solidarity Djamel Ould Abbes said.
The UN Security Council issued a non-binding statement calling for “an immediate halt to all violence.” The European Union has also called for a ceasefire.
The International Committee of the Red Cross said Gaza Strip hospitals were in a state of chaos.
Jordan’s King Abdullah II urged the U.S. president to help end Israel’s air blitz, the palace said.
British Foreign Secretary David Miliband warned the Middle East was facing a “dangerous and dark moment” and renewed his call for an end to the fighting.
Miliband told BBC radio, “I think that any innocent loss of life is unacceptable and in this case there have been massive casualties, some of them civilians and some of them children.”
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov called on his Israeli counterpart Tipzi Livni to “urgently halt” the military action.
Chinese Vice Premier Li Keqiang said in a statement, “The Chinese side is shocked and seriously concerned over the current military operations in Gaza that have caused a large number of deaths and injuries.”