TEHRAN-Iranian visual artists and cineastes gathered together at the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art on Saturday afternoon to condemn the heinous crimes of the Zionist regime against the innocent people in the Gaza Strip.

The event was held after the General Directorate of Visual Arts of the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance and Iran Cinema Organization, affiliated to the ministry, in separate notices, asked the artists to join the gathering.

A large group of members of the cinema community as well as visual artists of the country attended the gathering, condemning the genocide that is happening in Gaza. The barbaric crimes committed by the Zionist regime against the Palestinians and the bombing of the Gaza hospital have killed thousands of people including mothers and children.

While sympathizing with the Palestinian nation and the homeless people of Gaza, the Iranian cineastes and artists expressed their anger and hatred towards the inhumane actions of the brutal regime.

The Palestinian militant group Hamas launched an unprecedented assault on Israel on October 7, with hundreds of gunmen infiltrating communities near the Gaza Strip.

The attack was in response to Israeli settler violence, the blockade of the Gaza Strip, the desecration of the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, as well as Israel's atrocities against Palestinians over the decades.

In the aftermath of the attack, more than 4,000 Palestinians in Gaza have been killed in air and artillery strikes carried out by the Israeli military in response in the past two weeks. Israeli troops are also massing along the Gaza boundary and Palestinians are bracing themselves for a major ground operation.

Israel has at the same time imposed a total blockade on the territory, denying it food, fuel and other essentials.

SS/SAB