Imam Ayatollah Khamenei’s advisor to Haniyeh: You are role model for Muslim world

According to Press TV, Ali Akbar Velayati made the remarks in a Sunday phone call with Ismail Haniyeh, who heads the political office of the Gaza-based Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement, Hamas.

“We follow your great victories and achievements and what you do is a cause of honor for the [anti-Israel] resistance [front],” Velayati told Haniyeh.

He added, “You are a role model for the Muslim world.”

Haniyeh, for his part, said Iran was a strategic support base for the people of Palestine and the resistance.

“Our people and resistance are in good shape and we will continue to defend Al-Aqsa [Mosque],” Haniyeh said.

The phone call came amid the escalation of Israel’s violent attacks against the Palestinian people and holy sites across the Occupied Territories, especially Al-Aqsa Mosque in the East Al-Quds.

Since the beginning of the Muslim holy fasting month of Ramadhan, the occupied West Bank has witnessed an escalation of Israeli violence, with over two dozen Palestinians having been martyred and many more injured at the hands of the regime’s troops.

The uptick in the Israeli killing and repression of Palestinians has been green-light by Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, who granted full freedom of action to Israeli forces earlier this month to intensify their brutal raids against Palestinians.

In the latest act of provocation against the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in the occupied Old City of al-Quds, at least 19 Palestinians were injured in clashes on Sunday as Israeli settlers stormed the sacred site under the protection of Israeli military forces.