Hezbollah condemns Israeli attacks against Gaza as western-backed “organized crime”

Sheikh Naim Qassem, Hezbollah’s deputy secretary general, made the statement in a mass rally in the Lebanese capital of Beirut on Friday in condemnation of the occupying regime’s atrocities against the Palestinian people and the relentless shelling of Gaza with thousands of bombs over the past week.

Israel started its aggression on Saturday after Palestinian resistance groups launched multi-pronged Operation al-Aqsa Storm, the largest military operation against the illegal entity in decades.

The ongoing Israeli offensive has brought immense suffering to the Palestinian population in the Gaza Strip, with the number of casualties, particularly among innocent children and healthcare workers, mounting around the clock.

Gaza's Health Ministry says almost 1,800 people, including 583 children, have been killed and more than 6,380 injured due to Israeli bombardment across the coastal area. A large number of buildings, homes and public facilities have also been badly damaged due to heavy Israeli bombardments.

The military operation by the Palestinians against the occupying regime saw more than 5,000 rockets in retaliatory strikes fired at the occupied territories, which left upwards of 1,300 settlers and troops dead and three times as many injured.

“You Zionists are destroying houses and martyring children and women, which is a criminal act with the support of the United States, Europe and others,” Qassem addressed the crowds in Beirut’s rally.

“Al-Aqsa Storm proved that Israel is frail,” he added. “What is happening in Gaza is an organized crime and the killing of children and civilians.”

Stressing that the direct political, military, economic and security support of the United States prolongs the life of the occupation, the Hezbollah official said, “The Israeli regime cannot survive and this will be proven.”

Qassem said the “villainous and craven” Israeli regime hides behind its military equipment, adding that the Zionists are criminals and use the "vilest" tools of murder.

“They kill from afar as they lack the courage to confront the Palestinian fighters face to face,” he said. “This is while Palestinian combatants honorably offer their lives on the battlefields.”

Expressing Lebanon’s and Hezbollah’s support for Operation al-Aqsa Storm, Qassem said, “We are on a winning streak not a losing one; we are hard on the enemy’s heels and we are fully prepared and when the time is ripe, we will do it.”