Keystone-SDA
Pope Francis on Saturday condemned the “cruelty” of an Israeli bombing. This after the death of seven children from the same Palestinian family in Gaza announced the day before by the territory's Civil Defense.
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December 21, 2024 – 11:49
(Keystone-ATS) “Yesterday, children were bombed. This is cruelty, this is not war. I want to say it because it touches my heart,” the pope said in front of members of the government of the Holy See.
The spokesperson for the Civil Defense of the Gaza Strip, Mahmoud Bassal, denounced to AFP on Friday “a massacre of the (Israeli) occupation” having “made ten martyrs within the Khalla family, targeted by an airstrike on his home in Jabalia, near Gaza City.
The oldest was six years old
All those killed “are from the same family, including seven children, the oldest being six years old,” he said, reporting 15 injured.
Contacted by AFP, the Israeli army affirmed that the report communicated by Civil Defense in Gaza “does not agree with the information in (its) possession”.
Israeli forces “struck several terrorists who were operating in a military structure” of the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas and “represented a threat,” she assured.
Francis, 88, has been calling for peace since the Hamas attack on Israeli territory on October 7, 2023 and the Israeli retaliation campaign in Gaza. In recent weeks, he has toughened his remarks against the Israeli offensive.
“Arrogance of the invader”
At the end of November, he affirmed that “the arrogance of the invader (…) prevails over dialogue” in “Palestine”, a rare position which contrasts with the tradition of neutrality of the Holy See.
In extracts published in November from a forthcoming book, he called for a “careful” study to determine whether the situation in Gaza “fits the technical definition” of genocide, a charge Israel strongly rejects.
Two States
The Holy See supports the so-called two-state solution, Israeli and Palestinian, and has recognized the State of Palestine since 2013, with which it maintains diplomatic relations.
More than 45,000 Palestinians were killed in the Israeli military campaign of retaliation in Gaza, the majority civilians, according to data from the Hamas government's Ministry of Health, deemed reliable by the UN.
