Ayatollah Khamenei made the remarks in a meeting with Iranian university students in Tehran on Wednesday, further adding that a referendum among the native people of the region would bring an end to the Israeli regime.

Tel Aviv’s “unimaginable crimes" show the “innate reality” of Israel, whose “only cure is annihilation,” said the Leader.

“Of course until then, firm and armed resistance by the Palestinians (in Gaza) and the expansion [of such resistance] to the West Bank is the only way to confront this savage regime,” Ayatollah Khamenei noted.

The Leader further made clear that the annihilation of the Israeli regime does not at all connote the elimination of the Jews people of the region.

Through a referendum, the leader suggested, the people living and belonging in the region would select their desired government and bring about the elimination of this “fake and usurper” regime.

“We believe that the West Bank should also take up arms like Gaza and those who are interested in Palestine’s destiny should make efforts toward this objective.”

Ayatollah Khamenei further reiterated that no one should think that if the resistance fighters in Gaza did not possess their rockets they would be better off, noting that Palestinian in the West Bank do not possess such arms but they are also attacked and abused on a regular basis by Zionist forces.

Israeli warplanes have been carrying out incessant airstrikes against the blockaded Gaza Strip since July 8. On July 17, thousands of Israeli soldiers launched a ground invasion into the densely-populated enclave, so far killing nearly 750 Palestinians and injuring thousands more.

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