Iran urges permanent truce to stop Israeli ‘crimes’ in Gaza

TEHRAN (AFP): Iran on Monday called for a permanent cease-fire in Gaza to stop Israel’s “crimes” in the territory as the truce between Israel and Hamas entered its final day.

With the four-day truce is approaching its scheduled end early Tuesday, Hamas has said it is willing to extend the pause and free more hostages.

The pause that began Friday has seen dozens of hostages freed, with over 100 Palestinian prisoners released by Israel in return.

“As the Islamic Republic of Iran, we want and expect… that the crimes of the Zionist regime against the Palestinian people will be stopped completely,” said Nasser Kanani, Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman.

Kanani told reporters during his weekly press conference that Iran is “following” the extension of the truce “with the regional party active in this field, the state of Qatar.”

Iran’s Foreign Minster Hossein Amir-Abdollahian was on a visit to the Qatari capital Doha on Thursday.

“One of the main goals of the ongoing negotiations and efforts is to ensure that the existing temporary cease-fire takes a stable form and that the cruel aggression of the Zionist regime (Israel) against Gaza is not repeated,” he added.

But “it seems that the Zionist regime after not being able to achieve its objectives” after the offensive on Gaza, “wants to obtain a tangible victory,” he added, suggesting Israel would continue its offensive in Gaza.

Iran, which has labelled Israel’s military campaign in Gaza as a genocide, has denied any direct involvement in Hamas’s attack on Israel.

The Palestinian militant group poured across the border on October 7, killing 1,200 people, mostly civilians, according to Israeli officials.

In response, Israel launched a military campaign to destroy Hamas, killing nearly 15,000 people, mostly civilians and including thousands of children, according to Gaza’s Hamas government.