Iran has warned that the scale of civilian suffering caused by Israel’s war against Hamas will inevitably lead to a wider conflict, as officials in Gaza reported Israeli air strikes on several hospitals in or near the Palestinian enclave.
The comments by Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian could raise concerns about whether Washington’s diplomatic efforts and the deployment of US naval forces in the eastern Mediterranean will be able to prevent the conflict from further destabilizing the Middle East.
“Due to the increase in the intensity of the war against the civilian population of Gaza, the expansion of the scope of the war has become inevitable,” Amir-Abdollahian told his Qatari counterpart Sheikh Mohammed Bin Abdulrahman Al Thani on Thursday evening.
Iran’s state-run Press TV carried the comments made during a telephone conversation on Friday.
Israel’s bombardment and siege of Gaza over the past month has led to a humanitarian disaster with thousands of people seeking medical help and shelter in the few hospitals that are still open, and those in the war zone are in grave danger.
“The Israeli occupation has launched simultaneous attacks on numerous hospitals over the past hours,” Gaza Health Ministry spokesman Ashraf Al-Qidra told Al Jazeera television.
Qidra said the Israeli strike hit the courtyard of Al Shifa Hospital, the largest in Gaza City, causing casualties, but gave no details. Israel has said Hamas has hidden command centers and tunnels under Al Shifa, as well as other hospitals such as an Indonesian hospital, which Hamas denies, Klix.ba reports.
