Catholic leader Pope Francis repeated his call for peace in Palestine and Ukraine. He asked all conflicting parties in the two countries to hold negotiations to end the war.
At his weekly audience at the Vatican, on Wednesday (30/3), the 87-year-old man expressed his thoughts on the fate of the inhabitants of the Holy Land, Palestine, who have suffered greatly from the horrors of the Israeli invasion. “Let us never forget, war is always defeat. We cannot advance during war. We must make every effort to talk, negotiate,” he said.
The Pope also called for peace through negotiations in Ukraine. Israel’s invasion of the Gaza Strip has sparked hate crimes, xenophobia and religious-based hatred.
This phenomenon emerged in a number of countries, including France, which experienced a 32% increase throughout 2023. French police recorded 8,500 crimes and misdemeanors committed because of ethnicity, nationality, race or religion throughout that year.
The French interior ministry’s statistical service (SSMSI) also noted that the number of crimes and misdemeanors in October-December was twice as high as in the same period in 2022. “This increase can be seen from October with the level of offenses being similarly high in November before decreasing once more in December,” the report said.
SSMSI does not break down the number of victims based on religion. However, this institution assesses that most modes of racist, xenophobic or anti-religious action are based on provocation, insult and defamation.
Also read: Pope Francis no longer prays for peace for Israel
Israel’s invasion since October 7 in the Gaza Strip has killed 31,923 people and injured 74,096 others. Some 1,140 people were killed in the Hamas-led attack on Oct. 7 and 250 people were taken hostage, according to Israeli data, and 132 people remain missing.
This number of victims does not negate Netanyahu’s intention to burn Rafah to the ground. Netanyahu said that preparations were underway for an invasion of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip but that such action would take a long time.
In his statement, Netanyahu said that he would soon approve a plan to evacuate Palestinian civilians from the fighting area. That was following he received the green light for the military operational plan in Rafah. (France24/Z-2)
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