Gaza has brought Israel 'to its knees,' says Iranian supreme leader

The Iranian supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, stated on Tuesday that Gaza had brought Israel "to its knees," just over a week after a cease-fire took effect in the Palestinian territory.

"Little Gaza has brought the Zionist regime, armed to the teeth and fully supported by America, to its knees," Ayatollah Khamenei said during a meeting in Tehran.

The spokesperson for the Iranian foreign ministry, Esmaeil Baqaei, condemned the idea of U.S. President Donald Trump to move Palestinians out of the Gaza Strip, emphasizing that this territory is their "homeland."

"Political coercion and demographic manipulations cannot force Palestinians to migrate," the spokesperson criticized on the social network X.

"Instead of the Palestinians, try to expel the Israelis, take them to Greenland, to kill two birds with one stone," said Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi in an interview with Sky News, published on his Telegram channel.

"They [the Americans] can solve the problem of Greenland and the Israelis, that would be a good place for them," he added.

Following his repeated remarks coveting the Danish autonomous territory, the U.S. president asserted on Saturday that the United States "will acquire" Greenland.

On the same day, he proposed relocating Palestinians from the Gaza Strip, notably to Egypt and Jordan, an idea that sparked strong criticism in the Arab world.

The Gaza Strip is the "homeland of the Palestinians" and "they have paid an extremely high price to stay there," Baqaei said.

A cease-fire agreement, coupled with the release of hostages and prisoners, came into effect on Jan. 19 in the devastated Palestinian territory after more than 15 months of war between Israel and Hamas. The conflict has caused an unprecedented humanitarian crisis and displaced the majority of the population in the Palestinian territory.

The Hamas attack on Oct. 7, 2023, in Israel, which triggered the war, resulted in the death of 1,210 people on the Israeli side, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli data.

Of the 251 people abducted during the attack, 87 are still held hostage, and at least 34 of them have died, according to Israeli authorities.

The retaliatory offensive launched by Israel in the Gaza Strip has resulted in at least 47,317 deaths, mostly civilians, according to data from the Health Ministry of the Hamas government, deemed reliable by the U.N.