DUBAI: There could be a long wait for Iranian retaliation against Israel, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards spokesperson Alimohammad Naini said on Tuesday.
The Middle East has been bracing for Iran’s avowed retaliation over the killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran on July 31. Israel has neither confirmed nor denied that it was behind the killing.
“Time is in our favor and the waiting period for this response could be long,” Naini said, referring to potential retaliation against Israel.
He said “the enemy” should wait for a calculated and accurate response.
Iranian leaders were weighing the circumstances and the Islamic Republic’s response might not be a repeat of previous operations, he added, according to Iranian state media.
Iran and Hamas have accused Israel of carrying out the strike that killed Haniyeh hours after he attended the inauguration of Iran’s new president Masoud Pezeshkian.
The United States has asked allies that have ties with Iran to persuade it to de-escalate tensions in the Middle East, as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is in the region to push for progress toward a Gaza ceasefire.
Naini said that Tehran supported any move that led to an end to the war in Gaza and helped its people, but added: “We do not consider the US actions sincere. We consider the US to be a party to the (Gaza) war.”
Wait for Iran’s retaliation against Israel ‘could be long’, Revolutionary Guards spokesperson says
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Wait for Iran’s retaliation against Israel ‘could be long’, Revolutionary Guards spokesperson says
- Middle East has been bracing for Iran’s avowed retaliation over the killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran on July 31
- “Time is in our favor and the waiting period for this response could be long,” Naini said
Jerusalem’s Latin Patriarch visits Gaza for Christmas
- The senior churchman “arrived in Gaza today for a pastoral visit to the Holy Family Parish, on the eve of the Christmas celebrations,” his office said
- During his visit, Pizzaballa will review developments in humanitarian response on the ground in Gaza
JERUSALEM: Jerusalem’s Latin Patriarch, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, arrived in Gaza Friday for Christmas Mass at the Holy Family Parish in Gaza City, which hosts the Palestinian territory’s only Roman Catholic church.
The senior churchman “arrived in Gaza today for a pastoral visit to the Holy Family Parish, on the eve of the Christmas celebrations,” his office said in a statement.
It said the visit “reaffirms the enduring bond of the Holy Family Parish in Gaza with the wider Diocese of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem.”
During his visit, Pizzaballa will review developments in humanitarian response on the ground in the Gaza Strip as well as rehabilitation efforts.
He will also lead an anticipated Christmas Mass at the Holy Family Parish on Sunday, the statement said.
During his last visit to Gaza in July, Pizzaballa brought in 500 tons of food for residents suffering from shortages caused by Israeli restrictions on goods entering the devastated territory.
Pizzaballa and his Greek Orthodox counterpart, Theophilos III, were visiting after Israeli fire hit the Holy Family Church, killing three people.
A famine declared in Gaza in August is now over thanks to improved access for humanitarian aid, the United Nations said on Friday, also warning that the food situation there remained “critical.”
About 1,000 of 2.2 million Gaza inhabitants are Christians, most of them Orthodox.
The Latin Patriarchate says 135 Catholics live in Gaza. They sought shelter inside the compound of the Holy Family Church in the first days of the war between Israel and Hamas.
Some members of the Greek Orthodox church joined them in the compound owned by the Roman Catholic church.
