In his Christmas message, Pope Francis says Israeli strikes are reaping a “terrible harvest” of innocent civilians.
Israel’s bombardment of Gaza is reaping a “terrible harvest” of innocent civilians, Pope Francis said in his Christmas message.
In his “Urbi et Orbi” (to the city and the world) Christmas speech on Monday, the head of the Catholic Church also called Hamas’ attack on Israel on October 7 “abominable” and again called to the release of around a hundred hostages still alive. detained in Gaza, while calling for an end to hostilities.
Speaking from the central balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica in front of thousands of people in the square below, Francis, 87, called for an end to conflicts, political, social or military, in countries like Ukraine, Syria, Yemen, Lebanon and Armenia. and Azerbaijan, and he has defended the rights of migrants around the world.
“How many innocent people are massacred in our world! In the womb of their mothers, in the odysseys undertaken in desperation and in search of hope, in the lives of all these children whose childhoods were devastated by war. They are the little Jesuses of today,” he said.
He paid special attention to the Holy Land, including Gaza. On Christmas Eve night, Israeli air raids killed at least 78 people in one of the deadliest nights in the besieged enclave during the 11-week battle between Israel and Hamas, according to reports. Palestinian health officials.
“May peace come to Israel and Palestine, where war is devastating the lives of these peoples. I embrace them all, especially the Christian communities of Gaza and throughout the Holy Land,” Francis said.
“Puppet war chains”
“I plead for an end to military operations, which cause innocent civilian casualties, and I call for a solution to the desperate humanitarian situation through an opening to the provision of humanitarian aid,” he said.
Last week, a United Nations-backed body said in a report that all of Gaza’s 2.3 million residents were facing critical levels of hunger and that the risk of famine was increasing every day.
The Vatican, which maintains diplomatic relations with Israel and the Palestinian Authority, believes that a two-state solution is the only answer to the long-standing conflict. Francis called for “persistent dialogue between the parties, supported by strong political will and the support of the international community.”
Devoting an entire paragraph of his message to the arms trade, Francis said: “And how can we even talk about peace, when the production, sale and trade of arms is on the rise? »
He called for further investigation into the arms trade.
“We need to talk about it and talk about it, so as to highlight the interests and profits that move the puppet strings of war,” he said.
Israel has pounded the Gaza Strip since the Hamas cross-border attack on October 7, killing at least 20,424 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and injuring 54,036 others, according to local health authorities.
Around 1,140 people were killed in Israel during the Hamas attack.
The Israeli attack left Gaza in ruins, with half of the coastal territory’s housing damaged or destroyed and nearly two million people displaced in the densely populated enclave due to shortages of food, drinking water and medicine.
