Iran's Interim Foreign Minister Ali Bagheri Kani (L) and senior Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh meet in the Qatari capital Doha on June 20, 2024. (Photo by Iran's Foreign Ministry)

Doha, June 20 (RHC)-- Iran's Interim Foreign Minister Ali Bagheri Kani says Palestinian resistance groups must make use of their entire capacities to force Israel to pay a heavier price for its aggression in the GazaStrip.

Bagheri Kani made the remarks in a meeting with senior leader of the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas Ismail Haniyeh in the Qatari capital Doha on Thursday.  He said resistance should not be limited to armed resistance inside Palestine against the occupying forces.

In parallel with armed resistance, he added, resistance needs to be exercised in the legal and political domains as well as in public diplomacy outside the occupied Palestine to support the Palestinian people's rights.

The top Iranian diplomat hailed Palestinians' brave resistance and outlined the Islamic Republic's latest political efforts to support resistance.

Haniyeh, for his part, thanked the support provided to his nation by Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei as well as the Iranian nation and government.  He said the Palestinian people continue their strong resistance against Israel despite the continuation of the regime's brutal crimes and genocide in the Gaza Strip over the past nine months.

He added that a number of developments in the region and across the world indicate the "strategic maturity" of regional nations and the impossibility of returning to the era before Operation al-Aqsa Storm launched by Gaza-based resistance groups last October.

The Hamas leader noted that among those developments are Israel’s internal political situation, its position at regional and international levels, the rise of the voice of people in the West and the U.S. against the crimes of the occupiers as well as the field developments in Lebanon and Yemen.

Nearly nine months into extensive military aggression and genocide against the people of Palestine in the Gaza Strip, the Israeli forces has failed to achieve any objective, Haniyeh emphasized.

He said Hamas welcomes any mechanism that will meet all the demands of the Palestinian people.

Israel has waged the atrocious onslaught against the Gaza Strip, targeting hospitals, residences, and houses of worship after Palestinian resistance movements launched a surprise attack, dubbed Operation Al-Aqsa Storm, against the usurping regime on October 7th.

At least 37,431 Palestinians have been killed, most of them women and children, and another 85,653 have sustained injuries.  More than 1.7 million people have been internally displaced during the war as well.