Pope Francis called on Sunday for an end to the war between the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas and Israel and an increase in humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip.
• Also read: Pope says he is ‘very concerned’ about Gaza and calls for Israeli hostages to be released
“War is always a defeat, it is a destruction of human brotherhood. Brothers, stop, stop!” he said after the traditional Angelus prayer in St. Peter’s Square in Rome.
“I renew my demand that spaces be opened, that humanitarian aid continues to arrive and that the hostages be released,” the 86-year-old pope added.
AFP
The Pope also spoke on the phone with US President Joe Biden for around twenty minutes on Sunday about “conflict situations in the world and the need to find paths to peace,” according to the Vatican.
On October 7, hundreds of Hamas militants entered Israeli territory from the Gaza Strip, spreading terror in an attack unprecedented since Israel’s founding in 1948.
According to Israeli authorities, more than 1,400 people were killed in Israel, most of them civilians who were shot, burned alive or mutilated.
According to the Hamas Ministry of Health, at least 4,651 Palestinians, mostly civilians, have been killed in the Gaza Strip by incessant bombing raids by the Israeli army.
AFP
Israel stepped up its bombardment of the Gaza Strip on Saturday night to prepare for a ground invasion.
At the same time, the United States announced that it would strengthen its military resources in the region to prevent a large-scale conflagration.
The Gaza Strip has been under an Israeli land, air and sea blockade since Hamas seized power in 2007 and has been under a “complete siege” since October 9 by Israel, which has cut off water, electricity and food supplies.
On Saturday, a convoy of twenty trucks carrying humanitarian aid from Egypt entered the Rafah crossing, the only non-Israeli-controlled exit from the Gaza Strip, which was later closed.
During the October 7 attack, approximately 200 Israeli, foreign or binational hostages were also kidnapped in Israel by Hamas militants and taken to Gaza.
Two American hostages were released at the end of the week.