Iran has expressed its support for a decision by South Africa to file a case against Israel over the crimes it committed in the besieged Gaza Strip.

The Iranian Foreign Ministry, in a statement released on Wednesday, said Israel, enjoying unconditional and unrestricted support from certain governments, has been carrying out full-scale and vicious military attacks against Palestinians in the besieged Gaza Strip and the occupied West Bank over the past three months, and has been infringing upon all international conventions concerning oppressed Palestinians.

“The Islamic Republic of Iran once again strongly denounces the apartheid Zionist regime’s war crimes and genocide against the Palestinian nation, and expresses its support for resistance as a liberation move and legitimate right recognized by international law for the Palestinian nation in the struggle against occupation,” the statement read.

It went on to urge international bodies and agencies, including the UN Security Council, to adopt immediate and practical steps aimed at complete cessation of Israeli military strikes on Gaza.

The ministry also voiced Iran’s support for South Africa’s “responsible, courageous and honorable” move, which it said was based upon international law in defense of the Palestinian nation.

It finally called for the international community’s strong support in order to hold the perpetrators of Gaza crimes to account.

Israel waged the war on Gaza on October 7 after Palestinian resistance groups of Hamas and Islamic Jihad carried out the surprise Operation Al-Aqsa Storm into the occupied territories in response to the occupying regime’s intensified crimes against the Palestinian people.

At least 23,357 Palestinians, most of them women and children, have been killed in the war, and 59,410 individuals injured.

Tel Aviv has also imposed a “complete siege” on Gaza, cutting off fuel, electricity, food, and water to the more than two million Palestinians living there.