Iran president says US accomplice in Israel ‘crimes’

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 militant group, said the hospital strike killed at least 471 people and was caused by the latest in a wave of Israeli air strikes.

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 militant group Hezbollah.

They chanted slogans and held banners that read “Down with America”, “Down with Israel” and “Palestine will be liberated” as they marched.Meanwhile, EU chief Ursula von der Leyen said on Wednesday there is “no excuse for hitting a hospital full of civilians” in Gaza, but did not apportion blame for the blast.

The European Commission president told EU lawmakers the “facts need to be established” on the overnight strike on the Gaza hospital which killed at least 200. Israel and Palestinians accuse each other of the blast, which triggered street protests in the Middle East against Israel.

Von der Leyen said “all those responsible must be held accountable”. European Council President Charles Michel posted on social media that there was “no conceivable reason to strike a facility with innocent civilians and medical staff” and said such an attack “is not in line with international law”.

He too called for accountability. Von der Leyen, who visited Israel last Friday in a show of solidarity, has been criticised by some European Union countries for perceived bias in favour of Israel at the expense of Palestinian civilians.