TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei says Iran will stand beside the Hamas government in Gaza and that Israel is weakening and on the path to eventual destruction.
According to state TV, Khamenei called Hamas' prime minister in Gaza, Ismail Haniyeh, a "mojahed", or soldier of a holy war, saying "the Iranian nation will never let you be alone."
It also quotes him saying Israel's "Zionist regime" is "moving towards weakness, destruction and defeat" and that the current generation of Palestinians will see "that great day."
Khamenei, who was speaking at prayers marking the Islamic Eid al-Fitr holiday, has predicted Israel's downfall in the past, like Iran's hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
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