THE Pope He addressed a “strong appeal” to the world community to end the nearly two -year conflict between Israel and Hamas at Gauze.
At the same time, Pope Leo calls for a permanent truce, the liberation of all hostages held in Gaza and the provision of humanitarian aid.
“Once again I am appealing to a strong appeal (…) to put an end to the conflict in the Holy Land, which has caused so much terror, destruction and death,” Pontiff in his weekly message to the faithful in the Vatican.
“I beg for all hostages to be released, to achieve a permanent ceasefire, to facilitate the safe entry of humanitarian aid and to fully respect international humanitarian law,” he noted.
The Pope did not name Israel or the Palestinian Islamist Movement, but added that international law provides “the obligation to protect civilians, prohibitions of collective punishment, the use of violence indiscriminately and the forced displacement”.
Pope Leo, the first American Pontiff, has adopted a different style from his predecessor, the deceased Pope Francis, usually preferring to express himself using carefully prepared statements and rarely spontaneously.
It is also more cautious about the Israeli-Hamas conflict by Francis, who had proposed the global community to consider whether Israel’s military campaign in Gaza was a genocide of the Palestinian people, triggering criticism.
Pope Leo has previously asked Israel to allow more assistance to the Gaza to enter and made his appeal today by closing his weekly direction to the faithful.