Iran's Raisi addresses Gaza's Palestinians in unprecedented speech

Iran's president has delivered an unprecedented speech to an annual pro-Palestine rally in the besieged Gaza — a rare display of Tehran importance to the Hamas which governs the Palestinian coastal enclave.

Speaking virtually on Friday to hundreds of people gathered at a football stadium in Gaza City, Iran's President Ebrahim Raisi urged Palestinians to press on with their anti-occupation struggle against Israel.

In his speech, Raisi struck a hard line against the Palestinian Authority's recent bilateral meetings with Israel in Aqaba, Jordan, and Sharm el Sheikh in Egypt.

"The initiative to self-determination is today in the hands of the Palestinian fighters," Raisi said, dismissing the Palestinian Authority that rules parts of the occupied West Bank not controlled by Israel.

A surge of violence in Israel and the occupied West Bank after an unprovoked Israeli police raid on the holy Al Aqsa Mosque in occupied East Jerusalem last week have served to undermine the summits, which sought to de-escalate soaring tensions between Palestine and Israel.

Raisi addressed the crowds of Palestinians on the occasion of Jerusalem Day, or Al Quds Day after the city's Arabic name, which falls on the final Friday of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan. 

READ MORE: Al Quds Day: Thousands hold pro-Palestinian rallies across Middle East

Solidarity with Palestine

During the ceremony, the leader of Hamas in Gaza, Yehiyeh Sinwar, celebrated that fighters in southern Lebanon, Gaza and Syria had fired rockets into Israeli territory, describing the attacks as a response to the police raid on the Al Aqsa Mosque — the third-holiest site in Islam.

"The response came like a simple electric shock," Sinwar said of the rocket fire.

For the past four decades, Al Quds Day parades have drawn thousands to the streets around the Middle East.

Before the speech in Gaza, thousands of Iranians took to the streets across the country in solidarity with Palestine, state media reported.

"The Palestinians are actively confronting Israeli aggression from Gaza to the heart of Tel Aviv," said parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf.

While Iran has not revealed the details of its support, Hamas has publicly praised the Islamic Republic for its assistance. 

Experts say Iran's support is both financial and political — now mostly blueprint technology, engineering know-how and training to help Palestinians grow their own homemade arsenal of advanced rockets that can strike all of Israel's territory including occupied areas.

READ MORE: Israeli forces kill two Palestinians in occupied West Bank as tensions soar