Protests in “support of the oppressed children of Gaza” under the slogan “Palestine is not alone” took place in Tehran and other cities.

Thousands of Iranians held demonstrations against it across the country Israel’s relentless bombardment of the Gaza Stripwith a senior military commander warning that Israel is heading for a long and bloody war with the Palestinian group Hamas.

According to local media, Saturday’s demonstrations took place in the capital Tehran and other cities in “support of the oppressed children of Gaza” under the slogan “Palestine is not alone.”

According to Palestinian authorities, an estimated 12,000 people, including 5,000 children, have been killed in Israel’s air and ground strikes in the Palestinian territory.

In response to the group’s attacks, Israel has vowed to destroy Hamas October 7 attacks According to Israeli officials, about 1,200 people were killed, most of them civilians 240 people were captured.

“Palestine is on the path to a war of attrition… Israel will suffer a final defeat and end up in the dustbin of history,” commander Hossein Salami of the powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said at the rally in Tehran, which was broadcast live on state broadcaster TV.

“The fight is not over yet. The Islamic world will do whatever it has to do. There are still great ones [unused] “There is still capacity left,” Salami said, without referring to possible moves by Iran to join the conflict.

“The Zionist regime [Israel] I can no longer see peace and security. Muslims will take revenge on behalf of the oppressed people of Gaza, and this revenge has no expiration date.”

According to the AFP news agency, demonstrators in Tehran waved Palestinian flags, while others held banners that read “Down with America” and “Down with Israel.”

Others set fire to Israeli flags, while some waved the flags of the Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah, Iran’s ally, in which it was involved Border skirmishes with Israel since October 7th.

State television also showed some protesters carrying bundled white shrouds symbolizing the children killed in Gaza during marches ahead of World Children’s Day on Monday.

Similar demonstrations took place in other major cities, including Shiraz, Kerman and Isfahan.

Earlier this week, hundreds of body bags were laid out in Tehran’s Palestine Square to protest the ongoing Israeli offensive on Gaza.

Since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, Iran has made support for the Palestinian cause a centerpiece of its foreign policy.

Iran, which supports Hamas financially and militarily, hailed the Oct. 7 attacks as a “success” but denied any involvement.

She has also called Israel’s bombing of Gaza a “genocide” while condemning the United States for its support for Israel.

On Saturday, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani condemned Israel’s “attacks.” Hospitals in Gaza.

“Attacks on hospitals contradict all human rights standards, international law and the Geneva Conventions and make the criminal nature of this regime even clearer to the world,” he said on X.

His statement came as hundreds of people fled Gaza’s main al-Shifa hospital, where more than 2,000 patients, doctors and displaced people were trapped.

Israel has pushed forward military operations inside the hospital and searched for a Hamas operations center that it claims lies beneath the sprawling complex – an allegation Hamas has denied.