NEW DELHI: Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi in a phone call with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday asserted that the Palestinians have a right to resist Israeli occupation and urged India to support their struggle.
Raisi said Iran supports any global joint effort for an immediate ceasefire, lifting of the blockade and providing aid to the people of Gaza.
The president warned that the continued killings of the Palestinian people by Israel will have "extra-regional consequences," according to a statement released by Raisi's office.
The statement did not mention Israel by name but referred to it as the "Zionist regime."
In reference to last month's Hamas operations against Israeli targets, the Iranian president said "it was a natural response to the policies and criminal actions of the Zionist regime in usurping and occupying the land of Palestinians, killing children and women, and desecrating the sacred things of the Palestinian nation."
Raisi and Modi exchanged views on "the difficult situation in West Asia and Israel-Hamas conflict" and emphasised "the need for preventing escalation, ensuring continued humanitarian aid and early restoration of peace and stability", according to an Indian readout after Modi's phone call.
Israel has killed more than 10,000 people, including 4,100 children, in Gaza since it began bombing the besieged enclave on Oct 7.
The number of people injured are more than 25,000, according to official Palestinian figures on Monday. Israeli aircraft have flattened entire neighbourhoods and destroyed dozens of hospitals, schools and mosques.
United Nations agencies have made desperate pleas for a ceasefire to provide critically needed food, water and medicine supplies to Gaza's 2.3 million citizens.
Nearly 1.5 million people have been displaced across the Gaza Strip in one month and half of them are sheltering in 149 facilities of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA). – BERNAMA