Iran's Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said Friday that expansion of the Israel's war on Gaza has become "inevitable", amid widespread concern in the region and beyond that the conflict could spread.
Israel's indiscriminate war on the Gaza Strip has so far killed more than 10,800 people, two thirds of them women and children, according to the Palestinian health ministry
Its assault on the besieged Palestinian territory began after Hamas stormed into southern Israel on October 7 in an incursion that led to 1,400 people being killed and 240 others being taken into captivity, according to Israeli officials.
"Due to the increasing intensity of the war against the civilian residents of Gaza, the expansion of the scope of the war has now become inevitable", Amir-Abdollahian said to his Qatari counterpart, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani in a phone call.
His comments were cited on the ministry's website.
President Ebrahim Raisi has said Iran sees it as "its duty to support the resistance groups" but insisted that they act independently.
Raisi will join Arab leaders in the Saudi capital on Saturday for summits expected to underscore demands that Israel's attacks on Gaza end before the violence draws in other countries.
Iran has proclaimed support for the Palestinian cause- which is a centrepiece of its foreign policy since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.