"The Iranian nation and youth support the Palestinian people from the bottom of their hearts and love fighting the Zionists," Ayatollah Khamenei said, addressing the political and religious figures participating in the 'International Congress on Takfiri Streams in the Eyes of the Islamic Ulema' in Tehran on Tuesday.
"Thanks God, the Islamic Republic of Iran has not been entangled in religious boundaries and differences and as it helps the Shiite Hezbollah in Lebanon, it provides assistance to Hamas, Islamic Jihad and other Sunni groups in Palestine and will continue this assistance," he added.
Ayatollah Khamenei described strengthening the Palestinian brothers in Gaza as an instance of Iran's assistance to the Palestinian people, and stressed, "As we have announced earlier, the West Bank should be armed and ready for defending itself and this will certainly happen."
Also earlier, on the International Quds Day, Ayatollah Khamenei strongly condemned the 51-day Israeli attacks on the Gaza people, and underlined that there needed to be a change in the war strategy against the Israeli regime, stressing that all Palestinians, including those in the West Bank, should be armed to accompany Gazans in their armed struggle against Tel Aviv.
"We believe the West Bank, too, should be armed just like Gaza and those who are interested in the fate of the Palestinians must work in this respect so that the pains and miseries of the Palestinian people will be decreased due to their mighty hands and the weakness of the Zionist enemy," he underlined in July.
Following the leader's order, many Iranian officials, specially senior commanders, followed suit and underscored the necessity for arming the Palestinians in the West Bank, saying that the move would lead to Israel's collapse.
