Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Tuesday denied any Iranian involvement in Hamas’s shock weekend attack on Israel despite its strong support for the Palestinian militant group.

“The supporters of the Zionist regime (Israel) and some people in the usurping regime have been spreading rumours over the past two or three days, including that Islamic Iran was behind this action. They are wrong,” Khamenei said in a speech at a military academy.

“Of course, we defend Palestine, we defend the struggles,” he added, urging “the whole Islamic world” to “support the Palestinians.”

Khamenei said Israel has suffered an “irreparable failure” on both “military and intelligence” fronts.

“Everyone has spoken of the failure, I put the emphasise on its irreparability,” he said.

Iran took the lead on Saturday in celebrating the Hamas assault in which at least 1,500 gunmen stormed the border before carrying out a bloody rampage through Israeli communities that left more than 900 dead.

The Israeli army said it was the single deadliest event in the nation’s history, and has responded with a ferocious bombardment of Gaza where officials say at least 687 people have been killed.