Iran helped Hamas plan Israel attack, claims report; Iran UN mission denies

Iran reportedly helped Hamas plan the deadly attack in Israel that has led to the death toll to climb to thousands. Hamas, on Saturday, rampaged Israeli towns on Saturday in one of the deadliest incursions in recent times. 

According to a report in Wall Street Journal, Iran helped in plotting the rocket attack on Israel and approved the same at a meeting in Beirut last week. Officers of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard reportedly have been planning the attack with Hamas since August, according to officials of members of Hamas and Hezbollah, who told the newspaper. As per the report, the IRGC officers attended the meeting in Beirut along with four representatives of other Iranian-backed militant organisations. 

Hamas is the Shiite militant group holding control in Gaza and Hezbollah is the political faction backed by Iran in Lebanon. 

Meanwhile, Iran’s mission to the United Nations, said on Sunday that Tehran was not involved in the deadly attack. "The resolute measures taken by Palestine constitute a wholly legitimate defense against seven decades of oppressive occupation and heinous crimes committed by the illegitimate Zionist regime," Iran's UN mission said in a statement.

Iran said that it “emphatically” stands in unflinching support of Palestine, but is “not involved in Palestine’s response as it is taken solely by Palestine itself”. 

Iran's UN mission said the "success" of the Hamas operation was because it was a surprise, which makes it the "biggest failure" of Israel's security organisations. "They are attempting to justify their failure and attribute it to Iran's intelligence power and operational planning," Iran's UN mission said.

Iran said that Israel is finding it very difficult to accept the narrative in the intelligence community that they were being defeated by a Palestinian group. 

Israeli air strikes, following Hamas’ attacks, hit houses, tunnels, a mosque, and homes of Hamas members in Gaza, killing over 400 people, including 20 children. 

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