Brigadier-General Esmaeil Ghaani (Qaani), commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) extraterritorial Qods (Quds) Force, said Saturday that Israelis should prepare to move back to Europe, the United States and other places from the occupied Palestinian territories. He suggested Palestinians should prepare for running their country. 

“I’d advise all Zionists to go back and repurchase the houses they sold in Europe, the US and elsewhere before those houses become more expensive than they are today," Ghaani said at a memorial ceremony in Tehran for the recently deceased Qods Force deputy commander Mohammad Hosseinzadeh Hejazi.

Ghaani’s comments followed a suggestion from Hassan Nasrallah on May 25 that Israelis with two citizenships had already packed their bags and were ready to leave.

Mohammadreza Naghdi, the Guards’ coordination deputy, told the Tasnim News Agency April 26 that Hejazi, who passed away April 18, had been active in Lebanon supplying missiles and drones to resistance forces in Lebanon and Gaza. His death has been attributed to cardiac arrest caused by lingering effects of chemical weapons used by Iraq in the 1980-88 war. Some officials have rejected rumors Hejazi was killed by a biological weapon, presumably by Israel.

Ghaani said Palestinian missiles had not targeted infrastructural facilities during the 10-21 May Gaza-Israeli exchanges "because it will not take long for Palestinians to use these facilities.”  While Ghaani referred to support for the Palestinians once supplied by his predecessor, Qasem Soleimani, killed by a United States missile in Iraq in 2020, he said that the over 3,000 missiles fired by Hamas and Islamic Jihad were "made in Palestine."

"The Palestinian resistance forces…fired as many missiles during only the first three days of the most recent battle with Zionists" as the total hitting Israel during the 22-day war of December 2008-January 2009, Ghaani told those at the memorial ceremony.

Palestinian Health Ministry reported Thursday that the death toll from Israel’s continuing attacks on Gaza had risen to 253 Palestinians, including at least 40 children. Israel has reported the deaths of 12 civilians and one soldier.

The United Nations has appealed for $95 million in urgent aid for Gaza over the next three months. Hamas’s political chief Yahya Sinwar recently said the group welcomed support from any “international or Arab effort” to rebuild Gaza, and would not divert resources into military uses.

After the recent military confrontation, Palestinian groups in Gaza and Iranian officials have more openly admitted the degree of Iran’s support in providing arms, weapons know-how, training and cash to enable militants to fire rockets and missiles at Israel.