Tehran, IRNA - Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani has strongly condemned the Israeli regime's attacks on the city of Rafah in southern Gaza, where about 1.4 million displaced Palestinians have been sheltering amid intense bombings in other parts of the besieged territory.

Kanaani said on Tuesday that the Israeli incursion into Rafah was aimed at sabotaging the international efforts to stop the genocidal war in Gaza.

The Israeli army stepped up attacks in Rafah on Monday hours after the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas, which runs Gaza, announced it had accepted the terms of a ceasefire proposal by mediators Qatar and Egypt.

The offensive in Rafah has sparked fears of a new massacre and humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza, where nearly 35,000 Palestinians have been killed since early October last year.

Kanaani said the attacks on Gaza's southern most city on the border with Egypt , despite strong global opposition, shows the savagery of a rogue regime that is not committed to any international norm, and is the main threat to international peace and security.

"As we have repeatedly stated before, the key to peace and security in the region is the immediate and unconditional cessation of the war against the innocent people of Palestine in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank," he said.

He further called on international actors to mount pressure on the Israeli regime to stop the war in Gaza.

Kanaani added that the responsibility for any new bloodshed in Gaza, especially in Rafah, lies with the Israeli regime and its main military supporter, the United States.

Iran once again calls on the international legal and judicial organization to investigate the crimes against humanity committed by the apartheid regime and to bring its leaders to trial, he said.

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