DUBAI, October 17. /TASS/. Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei said that the country must respond to the actions of Israel, which has launched massive airstrikes on the Gaza Strip following an attack by the radical Hamas movement.

"We must react, we must respond to what is happening in Gaza. The civilians [of the Palestinian enclave] are starving and dying by the hundreds every day, so we must respond," the IRNA news agency quoted Khamenei as saying.

Earlier, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said that the prospect of the country entering the Palestinian-Israeli conflict was "conceivable." He added that "no one can remain on the sidelines" and watch Israel's actions in the Palestinian enclave.

On October 15, the top Iranian diplomat said at a meeting with Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani in Doha that the scope of the conflict could widen if Israel continues to target civilians in Gaza. Later, in an interview with Qatar's Al-Jazeera TV channel, he said that the country had warned Israel through mediators against further shelling of the Palestinian enclave.

Tensions flared up again in the Middle East on October 7 when militants from the radical Palestinian movement Hamas staged a surprise attack on Israeli territory from the Gaza Strip. Hamas described its attack as a response to the aggressive actions of Israeli authorities against the Al-Aqsa Mosque in the Old City of Jerusalem. Israel has announced a total blockade of the Gaza Strip as it has been delivering rocket attacks on Gaza as well as some districts in Lebanon and Syria.