TEHRAN: Iran's President Ebrahim Raisi on Wednesday accused the United States of being an accomplice in Israeli "crimes" after a rocket struck a hospital complex in war-torn Gaza, killing hundreds.
"The people of the world consider America to be an accomplice in the crimes of the Zionist regime," Raisi told thousands of people who had gathered in central Tehran in solidarity with the Palestinians.
Health authorities in Gaza, which is ruled by the Iran-backed Hamas fighters group, said the hospital strike killed at least 471 people and was caused by the latest in a wave of Israeli air strikes.
The Israeli army later blamed Palestinian fighters, saying it had evidence showing an outgoing Islamic Jihad rocket had misfired.
In his address to the Tehran rally, Raisi called for a stop to the bombing of the Gaza Strip, an end to the siege of the enclave and for the delivery of aid to the Palestinian people.
The Iranian president also warned of a "harsh revenge by the Islamic world for the crimes committed in Palestine and Gaza."
"With the attack on the hospital, the end of the Zionist regime will start," he said, referring to Israel.
"Every drop of blood that is shed from the Palestinians brings the Zionist regime one step closer to its fall," Raisi said.
Thousands of people in Tehran were shown on state television waving the flags of Iran, Palestine and Tehran-allied Lebanese group Hezbollah.
They chanted slogans and held banners that read "Down with America", "Down with Israel" and "Palestine will be liberated" as they marched.
-- AFP