2023-10-15 13:25:40
While the news coming from Israel and Gaza Strip are dramatic, and the Jewish army is expected to begin the ground attack on the Palestinian enclave that is without electricity and water. Pope Francis spoke of that war in the Middle East this Sunday, October 15, during the traditional Angelus in the St. Peter’s Square, renewing its request to maintain the humanitarian corridors that allow the civilian population to try to escape from the area, also making a special call to the Hamas terrorists to release the Israeli hostages they are holding hostage following the terrible attacks that occurred last weekend and whose images shocked the world.
Speaking to the crowd in Vatican Square, Francis asked that “children, the sick, the elderly, women and all civilians do not become victims of the conflict”pointing out that “humanitarian law must be guaranteed” especially to Gaza.
“May no more innocent blood be shed either in the Holy Land, or in Ukraine, or anywhere else. Wars are always a defeat. I follow with great pain what is happening in Israel and Palestine and I think above all of the many small and seniors”, the Supreme Pontiff remarked. He also added: “I renew the call for the release of the hostages and strongly ask that children, the sick, the elderly, women and civilians not become victims of the conflict.”
Along those lines, Francisco stated that “humanitarian law must be respected and especially in Gaza, at home, where it is urgent and necessary to guarantee humanitarian corridors to help the entire population.” “Prayer and quiet strength is holy and is what must be offered to the diabolical force of hatred, terrorism and war”said the head of the Catholic Church.
At the end, Francis invited all believers to join the Church in the Holy Land to dedicate next Tuesday, October 17, a day of prayer and fasting for peace.
Following the Hamas attack on October 7, Israel declared a state of siege and declared a state of “total war” in the Gaza Strip, with blockades to prevent food from entering and cutting off the supply of water and electricity in this area. small territory where 2.4 million inhabitants are crowded together. Reports already speak of thousands of deaths, on both sides, in Israel due to the savage attacks by Hamas that murdered civilians in droves last weekend, and on the Palestinian side due to the bombings of the Jewish army, which summoned more than 300 thousand reservists for the imminent ground attack. Meanwhile, hospitals are overcrowded, with more than 10,000 people estimated to be injured.
In addition to the Middle East, the Pope also demanded that the monasteries and religious places in the region of Nagorno-Karabakh, whose control Azerbaijan regained weeks ago with a 24-hour military operation that led to the exodus to Armenia of most of the territory’s 120,000 ethnic Armenians.
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