TEHRAN- Iran has welcomed a recent statement by the African Union (AU) demanding an end to the military aggression and atrocities committed by the Israeli regime against the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip.

Moussa Faki, the chairman of the African Union Commission, made a vehement condemnation of the Israeli brutality and indiscriminate airstrikes on Gaza during the 37th African Union Summit held on Saturday in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

“Rest assured, we strongly condemn these attacks that are unprecedented in the history of mankind,” Faki said.

“We want to reassure you of our solidarity with the people of Palestine,” he added, while accusing Israel of having “exterminated” Gaza’s inhabitants.

Speaking on Sunday, Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani voiced the country’s “categorical support” for the statement.

He went on to add, “The Islamic Republic of Iran declares its categorical support for the content of this statement, which shows commitment of the Union, as well as African leaders and nations to valuable humanitarian ideals regarding Palestine.”

Iran, he continued, is confident that the African states and “many other countries and nations around the world in support of the oppressed Palestinian nation will tighten the grip on the Zionist warmongers and criminals, and their supporters.” African states have been known to adopt principled and humane positions.

Such actions would also “pave the way for the cessation of the Israeli onslaught on Gaza and the occupied West Bank, and will alleviate the suffering of the Palestinian people,” stressed the spokesman. 

He made the remarks on the 135th day of the Israeli regime’s full-scale military assault against Gaza.

Almost 29,000 Palestinians have been killed so far in Israel’s genocide campaign, which started after Gaza-based resistance groups’ Operation al-Aqsa Storm. The majority of these victims were women and children.

Similar praise for the AU’s statement was expressed earlier on Sunday by Hamas, the Palestinian resistance movement, which stated, “We hope it would translate into practical steps from all friendly African countries in a way that contributes to stopping the aggression and war of extermination against our Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip.”

In addition, Hamas demanded the creation of an independent Palestinian state and the termination of all ties with the regime. 

“We call for severing of all ties with the criminal Zionist entity, and supporting the struggle of our Palestinian people until they achieve their legitimate national rights, most notably the establishment of the Palestinian State" with al-Quds as its capital, Hamas continued.

“U.S. rewards Israel through providing military aid" 

In a post on his X account on Sunday, Kanaani said that the U.S. Senate’s ratification of a $14 billion assistance package to Israel demonstrates that the U.S. is rewarding the regime for massacring innocent Palestinian people during the unequal warfare in Gaza.

According to spokesman, the approved U.S. package, which was paid for by American taxpayers means that people who carried out ruthless crimes in the Gaza war, like Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, “will be rewarded with a daily sum of one hundred million dollars from the #United States for massacring innocent Palestinian civilians.”

He went on to say that money could only be wasted for the ruthless killing of innocent people by crooked and tyrannical bodies that are based on the murder of life.

On Tuesday, the U.S. Senate cleared a $95.34 billion assistance package for Ukraine, Israel, and Chinese Taipei.

The package includes $61 billion for Ukraine, $14 billion for Israel, and $4.83 billion to bolster the anti-China alliance in the Indo-Pacific area, including Chinese Taipei.