Israel's Gaza offensive crime against humanity: Iran

Tehran, July 14 (IANS) The Iranian government Monday condemned Israel's continuing military strikes on the Gaza Strip as "crimes against humanity", a media report said.

In a statement, the foreign ministry censured Israel for what it called "employing the most lethal weapons against the defenceless inhabitants" of the blockaded Gaza Strip, Xinhua reported.

The Israeli raid on the Palestinians is the "direst war crimes and crimes against humanity", the statement said, adding that Iran, which holds rotating presidency of the Non-Aligned Movement, will hold consultations with other members states and take prompt action to bring an immediate end to the Israeli atrocities.

Earlier this month, Israel launched a large-scale offensive on the Gaza Strip called Operation Protective Edge, where its war jets and drones carried out hundreds of air strikes on various banks targets belong to Hamas.

According to medics, 174 Palestinians have been killed and over 1,200 injured since the Israeli offensive started, most of them were civilians.