Iraq’s top cleric: All Muslims should help people of Palestine, reclaim their usurped rights

“We call on all Muslims to come to the assistance of the Muslim people of Palestine [and] respond to their loud cries for help,” the senior cleric said in a message on Monday.

Grand Ayatollah Sistani also urged all Muslims to do their utmost to “deter the aggressors,” reclaim the usurped rights of Palestinians, and save them from Israel’s onslaught.

He added that the Islamic land of Palestine should be saved from “usurping aggressor.”

Calling up an unprecedented 300,000 reservists, Israel has declared a long war on Gaza in response to Operation al-Aqsa Storm, which started on Saturday.

The resistance fighters say they have waged the operation against the occupying regime in response to its decades-long campaign of bloodshed and destruction against Palestinians.

According to the Gaza Health Ministry, the death toll from the Israeli attacks on the besieged territory has exceeded 700, including 140 children and 105 women, with nearly 3,900 others injured.

Tel Aviv has already been enforcing a permanent ground, aerial, and naval blockade against the coastal territory since 2007. The regime rarely relaxes the siege for entry of essential goods, but has ordered it to be exercised completely since the onset of the ongoing war.

In a statement, the Israeli air force said it had dropped some 2,000 munitions and more than 1,000 tonnes of bombs on Gaza in the last 20 hours.

The Israeli strikes have also led to the displacement of more than 123,000 people in the Gaza Strip, according to the United Nations.

UN chief says “deeply distressed” over Israel’s complete siege of Gaza

In a related development on Monday, Secretary General of the United Nations Antonio Guterres said he was “deeply distressed” by Israel’s announcement that it would initiate a complete siege of Gaza following the Palestinian resistance’s large-scale operation against the regime.

“I am deeply distressed by today’s announcement that Israel will initiate a complete siege of the Gaza Strip, nothing allowed in – no electricity, food, or fuel,” Guterres said.

This, after the Israeli military said it was imposing a total blockade of Gaza in response to Hamas attacks, after calling up hundreds of thousands of reservists.

Guterres said the situation in Gaza was already “extremely dire” before the regime’s decision to choke up all the entrances to the territory, adding that it would “only deteriorate exponentially” following Israel’s announcement.

Noting that medical equipment, food, and other humanitarian supplies and personnel are needed, the UN chief said relief aid and entry of essential supplies into the territory must be facilitated.

“I urge all sides and the relevant parties to allow the United Nations’ access to deliver urgent humanitarian assistance to Palestinian civilians trapped and helpless in the Gaza Strip,” he said, while appealing to the international community to mobilize immediate humanitarian support.