Iran Warns Of 'Inevitable Expansion' Of War After IDF Conducts Flag-Raising Ceremony In Gaza

Iran Warns Of 'Inevitable Expansion' Of War After IDF Conducts Flag-Raising Ceremony In Gaza

 TYLER DURDEN

Update(1515ET): On Friday Israeli media produced this headline hailing that "Israeli flags wave proudly along the shores of Gaza". Starting on Thursday footage began widely circulating online showing IDF troops holding an Israeli flag raising ceremony, laying stake to conquered areas of the Strip. In a short speech during the ceremony on a Gaza beach, just prior to leading troops in the national anthem, an IDF soldier said "this is our land" and told his forces they are leading the way for Jews "to return to our lands." 

Following this highly provocative scene, on Friday Iran issued a new warning, saying that Israel's expansion of its operations and attacks on Gaza hospitals and other provocative acts make an expansion of the scope of the war "inevitable". 

Iranian foreign minister Hossein Amirabdollahian conveyed the statement in a phone call with Qatar's prime minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani, according to state media.

“Due to the expansion of the intensity of the war against Gaza’s civilian residents, expansion of the scope of the war has become inevitable,” Amirabdollahian said. 

He separately posted to X that "time is running out" for Israel, and stated, "The only benefit of Netanyahu was that he made the foundations of the fake Israeli regime more shaky and showed the criminal, violent, and aggressive face of the Zionist regime in the massacre of women and children in Gaza."

After reports emerged starting Wednesday and Thursday that Israeli tanks had pushed to the center of Gaza City, Palestinian officials have said tanks have drawn close to and have surrounded key hospitals where thousands of Palestinians are taking shelter as wounded patients are receiving treatment. They said Friday that air strikes have hit the Strip's biggest hospital, Al Shifa, killing at least one and wounding several others.

Other hospitals were were also reportedly struck at dawn, including strikes on the grounds of the Indonesian Hospital and the Rantissi cancer hospital, according to eyewitnesses cited in Reuters. Sprawling tent encampments of the internally displaced can be seen on the hospital campuses, but Israel claims that Hamas has 'terror tunnels' underneath, and further that the group has a base of operations in Rantissi hospital. Civilians waiving white flags have been trapped, in at least one instance coming under fire while trying to escape. Gazan authorities say the Israel's military is firing on them, while Israel claims Hamas is shooting its own people to keep them as "human shields". 

Israel Defense Forces (IDF) tanks have been observed near these hospitals, with some unconfirmed video evidence emerging that civilians taking shelter there have been hit either by IDF snipers, artillery, or possibly drone strikes.

The Israeli military has ordered the immediate evacuation of these hospitals but people reportedly have not moved, fearing any attempt to exit will be more dangerous.

The White House announced Thursday that Israel agreed to implement daily four-hour pauses in fighting to facilitate a humanitarian corridor for civilians to flee south, but it's unclear how this will effect standoff situations where civilian enclaves are surrounded by tanks.

Al Jazeera, which has correspondents on the ground, says that tanks are within a mere hundreds of meters of some of the hospitals in question: "Using tanks and armored vehicles, they have closed a roughly 100-metre perimeter around these hospitals, still sheltering thousands of wounded and displaced people," the Friday reportsays.

More...