Pope Francis separately received relatives of Israeli hostages held by Hamas in Gaza and Palestinian prisoners in Israel at the Vatican on Wednesday, denouncing their suffering.
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“This morning I received two delegations, one of Israelis whose family members were held hostage in Gaza and another of Palestinians whose family members were held captive in Israel,” the pope said.
“They are suffering so much, I have heard how much they are all suffering. This is what wars produce,” he continued after his traditional general audience in the Holy See on Wednesday.
“But here we have gone beyond wars, it is not war, it is terrorism,” the sovereign pope added, without specifying whether he was referring to the bloody attack carried out on Israeli soil by the Islamist movement Hamas on October 7 Military operations launched in retaliation by Israel in the Gaza Strip or against both.
He concluded his statement with a call to pray for peace for the Israeli and Palestinian people.
The Vatican said last week that Francis wanted to express “his spiritual solidarity with the suffering of all” at these private meetings, citing their “purely humanitarian character.”
The Pope recently emphasized that “every person, whether Christian, Jew, Muslim, no matter what nation or religion, every person is holy and precious in the eyes of God and has the right to live in peace.”
“The world is listening”
Rachel Goldberg, whose 23-year-old son Hersh Goldberg-Polin was among those abducted by Hamas, said she hoped for the pope’s “great influence” in the world.
“He enjoys great respect in the Muslim world, in the Jewish world, regardless of his faith. I think when he speaks, the world really listens,” she said during a press conference with other families following the meeting with the pope, which lasted about 20 minutes.
The families are demanding that the Red Cross be given access to the hostages, and “we believe the Holy Father has the necessary influence in the world” to make that happen, Goldberg said.
The delegation of relatives of Palestinian prisoners will address the press this afternoon.
Many capitals on Wednesday welcomed the Qatar-sponsored deal to release 50 hostages from Hamas in exchange for Palestinian prisoners and a four-day ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.
Around 240 people were kidnapped in Hamas’ attack on the small Palestinian territory against Israel on October 7th.
Israel vowed to “destroy” the Palestinian Islamist movement after that attack, which Israeli authorities said killed 1,200 people, the vast majority of them civilians.
According to the Hamas Health Ministry, Israeli retaliatory strikes in Gaza have killed more than 14,100 people, including more than 5,800 children.