Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told the head of the Hamas government in
Gaza on Saturday that eight days of cross-border fighting showed that Israel had
no choice but to “bow” to Palestinian rights, according to Iran’s IRNA news
agency.
Hamas has basked in what it called a victory against Israel after
an Egyptian-brokered cease-fire on Thursday ended the conflict in which 163
Palestinians and six Israelis were killed. The IRNA said Hamas Prime Minister
Ahmadinejad, in the rare telephone call with Ismail Haniyeh, praised the
Palestinian “resistance and perseverance.”
Israel’s arch-foe Iran, which
has an alliance with Hamas, had referred to Israeli strikes as “organized
terrorism.”
The exiled leader of Hamas Khaled Mashaal, on Wednesday
thanked Shi’ite Iran for what he described as arms and funding.
On
Friday, Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani described the conflict with
Hamas during Operation Pillar of Defense as a “tsunami” that hit Israel,
Lebanon’s The Daily Star reported.
Larijani made his comments to
reporters upon arrival at Lebanon’s Rafik Hariri International Airport. “This
victory by the segregated Palestinian people is a great victory and represents a
tsunami on the Zionist entity,” the Iranian official said.
Larijani is
due to meet with Palestinian factions in the country during his visit to
Lebanon.