Israel claimed that terrorists hide behind children while trying to murder Israeli children.
The Israeli Foreign Ministry condemned Pope Francis’ Christmas speech, in which he criticized the attacks on Gaza as “cruelty, not war,” indicating that the Supreme Pontiff “is ignoring the cruelty of Hamas.”
“The cruelty is that terrorists hide behind children while trying to murder Israeli children; cruelty is holding 100 hostages for 442 days, including a baby and children, by terrorists and abusing them. Unfortunately, the pope has chosen to ignore all this,” the ministry wrote in X.
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This Saturday, Pope Francis stated during the Christmas greeting audience to the Roman Curia, that he is informed of Israel’s attacks through the telephone calls he makes to the parish of the Holy Family, the only Catholic church in the Strip. from Gaza.
“Yesterday they bombed children. This is cruelty, this is not war, I want to say it because it touches the heart,” Francisco added.
Francis has called on numerous occasions for a ceasefire in Gaza, such as in the recent audience he held in the Vatican on December 12 with the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, in which they addressed “the very serious humanitarian situation” in the Strip. as reported by the Vatican.
In recent weeks, Both Israel and Hamas have announced that they are close to an agreement for the release of the 97 hostages who remain in Gaza since October 7, 2023their exchange for Palestinian prisoners and the implementation of a ceasefire.
One of Israel’s main demands in the framework of the ceasefire negotiations in Gaza is that Hamas not be part of the enclave’s next government when the war ends.
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Since the start of the war in Gaza, on October 7, 2023, after the deadly attack by Hamas, More than 45,000 deaths and 100,000 injuries have been recorded. The enclave’s health authority estimates that at least 11,000 people are missing in the rubble.
In addition, it has pointed out that nearly 90% of civil infrastructure, including hospitals, has been destroyed by Israeli attacks, leaving the population in conditions of extreme vulnerability.
