Muslim countries around the world should cut economic relations with Israel to show support for the Palestinian people, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has said.
Khamenei was speaking at the Islamic Unity Conference in Tehran on Saturday. He accused Israel of committing crimes in its nearly year-long military campaign against Hamas in Gaza. More than 41,000 Palestinians have been killed in the conflict to date, according to the latest figures from the enclave’s Health Ministry.
Israel is open about the crimes it commits in its military operation in Gaza, Khamenei claimed.
“Today, the Zionist regime commits crimes shamelessly and without hiding it,” in Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon, and Syria, an X account translating and sharing Khamenei’s statements quoted the Iranian leader as saying.
They aren’t fighting soldiers. They’re targeting ordinary people.
He called on the Muslim world to cut ties with West Jerusalem.
“Today, the first step to increasing the unity of the Islamic world against this criminal, terrorist gang that has usurped the land of Palestine is for Islamic countries to completely cut off economic ties with it. This is the least that can be done,” Khamenei said.
Tensions between Israel and neighboring Muslim countries have soared during the Jewish state’s military operation in Gaza. The Israeli campaign was a response to Hamas attacks on October 7, 2023, when the militant group attacked southern Israel, killing around 1,100 people and taking more than 200 hostages.
Israel’s bombing and ground operation has devastated large parts of the enclave, and displaced 90% of the Palestinian population, according to the UN.
Tehran has accused Israel of attempting to commit “genocide” of the Palestinians in Gaza.
Long-running tensions between the two states came to a head in April after the bombing of an Iranian Embassy compound in Syria, which Iran blamed on West Jerusalem. Iran launched hundreds of missiles and drones at Israel, which it defended against with significant help from the US, UK, and other allies in the region.
Tensions spiked once again in July after the assassination of Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh in the Iranian capital, which both the militant group and Tehran blamed on Israel. Iran has vowed retaliation, but has yet to carry out an attack in response.