ROME (AP) – Pope Leo XIV on Wednesday called for Israel to stop “collective punishment” and force the evacuation of Palestinians in Gaza. Besieged territory In preparations by Israel for a new military attack.
Leo was interrupted twice by applause as he read out loud his latest fascination with the end of the 22-month war in his weekly general audience, attended by thousands of people in the Vatican auditorium.
The first American pope in history also sought the release of hostages, photographed by Hamas in southern Israel. International authority To end “a war that caused so many fears, destruction and death.”
“I ask that we reach a permanent ceasefire, promote the safe entry of humanitarian assistance, and fully respect humanitarian law,” Leo said. He cited international law requiring the obligation to protect civilians and “the prohibition of collective punishment, the use of indiscriminate armed force, and the forced movement of the population.”
The Palestinians of Gaza The attack has been expanded Promised by Israel in some of the most populous regions of the territory, including Gaza City famine It has been documented and declared.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel would do so Starts the attack on Gaza City At the same time, Israel is pursuing a ceasefire, but it has not yet sent a negotiation team to discuss table proposals. He says the attack is the best way to weaken Hamas and return hostages, but the hostage families and their supporters put them in even greater danger.
Hamas took 251 hostages on October 7, 2023, killing about 1,200 people, causing war. Most hostages have been released during previous ceasefires and other transactions. Israel saved eight hostages alive. Of the 50 people still in Gaza, Israeli officials believe that around 20 are still alive.
Leo turned his attention to the joint statements by the Latin language of Jerusalem and the Greek Orthodox patriarch, despite the priests and nuns of two Christian churches in Gaza, despite the orders for evacuation to Gaza, preceded the attack on Gaza. They said that those who are evacuated in the church are too weak to move and are malnourished, and doing so would result in a “death sentence.”
The Holy Family Catholic Church and the Holy Porphyry Orthodox Church displaced hundreds of Palestinian civilians during the war. Pope Francis, even on his last day in the hospital, Get in touch with the parish priests every day The Holy Family provides his solidarity and support to those there, cared for by the nuns of Mother Teresa’s sisters of the Charitable Religious Order.
In their joint statement, Catholic Cardinal Piabattista Pizzabara and Orthodox Patriarch Theophilos III noted that last weekend Leo issued a strong statement on the rights of people. Stay in their hometown And don’t be forced to move.
“Everyone must be respected by people who are strong in their identity and rights, especially their rights to live in their land, and no one can put them in exile,” Leo told a group of forced refugees from Chagos, an Indian Ocean Archipelago, clearly doomed by a wider audience.
Netanyahu said that Gaza’s population should be Moved to another country Through what his government described as voluntary immigration. Rights groups oppose it, and fear that Israel will never allow them to return, even if the Palestinians leave temporarily to escape the war.
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