Iran’s attack on Israel ‘brings joy’ to Gaza Palestinians amid suspicions of ‘face-saving’ assault
Footage circulated from the enclave showed many residents, including inside displacement tents, whistling and others chanting “Allahu akbar [God is great]” in joy as the skies were lit up by Iranian rockets and Israeli interceptions.
“Whoever decides to attack Israel, dares to attack Israel at a time when the whole world acts in its service, is a hero in the eyes of Palestinians regardless of whether we share their [Iran] ideology or not,” said Majed Abu Hamza, 52, a father of seven, from Gaza City.
“We have been slaughtered for over six months and no one dared to do anything. Now Iran, after its consulate was hit, is hitting back at Israel and this brings joy into our hearts,” said Abu Hamza.
03:26
Humanitarian aid workers delivering food killed in Gaza in 'unintentional' air strike
Iran launched the attack over a suspected Israeli strike on its consulate in Syria on April 1 that killed top Revolutionary Guards commanders and followed months of clashes between Israel and Iran’s regional allies, triggered by the war in Gaza.
Hamas, which has been locked in a war with Israel in Gaza since October 7, defended Iran’s attack, saying in a statement the assault was “a natural right and a deserved response” to the strike on the Iranian consulate.
The Palestinian Popular Resistance Committee PRC, an armed group that fights Israel alongside Hamas in Gaza, said the Iranian engagement could boost the Palestinian cause, saying that for Israel it was “the final nail in its coffin.”
Not everyone was supportive. Some Palestinians saw the attack as an attempt by Iran merely to preserve its dignity.
Israel-Gaza war: Mossad says Hamas rejected latest ceasefire proposal
“Curtains down on the face-saving piece of theatre … The Palestinian people are the only ones who pay the price with their flesh and blood,” Munir al-Gaghoub, an official of President Mahmoud Abbas Fatah’s faction, wrote on his Facebook page.
Some others on social media said they believed the assault was agreed with the US to cause no harm, pointing to the hours it took for Iranian drones to get close to Israel, and saying this gave Israel plenty of time to shoot them down.
Meanwhile, Israel kept up its military strikes across the Gaza Strip, killing 43 Palestinians and wounding 62 others in the past 24 hours, according to the territory’s health ministry.