TEHRAN – Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei on Thursday commended the sacrifices and valor of Palestinians and their resistance that forced the Zionist regime to submit to a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.
“Today, the world realized that the Palestinian people’s patience and the Palestinian resistance’s resilience have forced the Zionist regime to back down,” said a statement the Leader’s X social media account on Thursday.
“It will be written in books that one day, a Zionist group massacred thousands of women and children in the most horrific way and at the end, they were quashed,” the post said. 
The ceasefire in Gaza represents a “great victory” for the Palestinian resistance, Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps said, warning against any possible breach by Israel.
Hamas and Israel reached a deal for a ceasefire in Gaza that mediators said would take effect on Sunday. 
“The end of the war and the imposition of a ceasefire on the Zionist regime is a clear and great victory for Palestine and a greater defeat for the Zionist regime,” a statement by the IRGC said.
“The resistance remains alive, thriving, strong... and has deeper faith in the divine promise of liberating the Al-Aqsa Mosque and Al-Quds,” the IRGC said, warning against any breach of the ceasefire by Israel and saying they maintain field preparations to confront “new wars and crimes.”
Iran’s foreign ministry also welcomed the ceasefire, while calling for the prosecution of Israeli authorities over their appalling crimes in the besieged territory.
In a statement, the ministry said Gazans have suffered “one of the greatest acts of genocide and population displacement in history” since October 2023, when Israel’s war machine began unleashing fire and destruction on the territory.
The ceasefire, it said, is the result of “solidarity and unity of the people of Gaza in their honorable resistance and steadfastness against the forced displacement of Palestinians, hailing the truce “as a historic victory for the Palestinian nation.”
The ministry hoped the truce would lead to a complete end to the genocide in Gaza, the withdrawal of occupiers, swift humanitarian aid, the rebuilding of the region, and relief for the resilient people of Gaza.
Iranian Ambassador to Beirut Mojtaba Amani said in a post on X that Zionist prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu failed to achieve any of his declared goals in the war on Gaza.
“After 15 months of crimes in Gaza, Lebanon and the West Bank, the Zionist regime was forced to sign an agreement that it rejected from the beginning,” Amani said.
“None of Netanyahu’s promises was fulfilled. The organizational structure and combat power of Hezbollah, Hamas and Islamic Jihad still exist. The Zionists know that their killings and crimes during this period constitute a great incentive to continue the resistance against this regime.”