CrossFireArabia
Pope Francis, following the Israeli incitement campaign after his call for an investigation into Israel’s crimes in Gaza: “Yesterday, children were bombed… this is savagery, this is not a war. I wanted to say this because it strikes the heart.”
CrossFireArabia
Pope Francis is calling for an investigation to determine whether a genocide is taking place in the Gaza Strip, the Vatican News agency reported on Sunday.
“According to some experts, what is happening in Gaza has the characteristics of a genocide. It should be carefully investigated to determine whether it fits into the technical definition formulated by jurists and international bodies,” he said in a passage from his new book of interviews, Hope Never Disappoints: Pilgrims Towards a Better World, which is due out this Tuesday according to Anadolu.
“I am thinking above all of those who leave Gaza in the midst of the famine that has struck their Palestinian brothers and sisters given the difficulty of getting food and aid into their territory,” the pontiff added, referring to Israeli blockades which only allow a trickle of aid required by over 2 million people into the embattled enclave.
Israel has continued a devastating offensive on the Gaza Strip since Oct. 7, 2023, killing nearly 44,000 Palestinians, most of them women and children, and rendering the enclave almost uninhabitable.
It also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its actions in the blockaded enclave.
CrossFireArabia
Pope Francis, Sunday, said Israel’s attacks in Gaza and Lebanon are “immoral” and “disproportionate.”
During his flight back from a four-day trip to Luxembourg and Belgium, the pope was asked about Israel’s targeted killing of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in Friday’s strike on Beirut, which led to many casualties and reduced many buildings to rubble.
“Every day I call the parish of Gaza. More than 600 people are there, inside the parish and the college, and they tell me about the things that are happening, including the cruelties that are occurring there,” he told journalists.
“What you are telling me—I didn’t quite understand how things have been — but defense must always be proportionate to the attack,” he added.
The Israeli army has pounded Lebanon against what it called Hezbollah targets since Sept. 23, killing at least 816 people and injuring over 2,500 others, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry. The heavy bombardment also targeted senior Hezbollah commanders and forced tens of thousands of civilians to flee their homes.
Hezbollah and Israel have been engaged in cross-border warfare since the start of Israel’s war on Gaza, which has killed more than 41,000 people, mostly women and children, following a cross-border attack by Hamas last Oct. 7.
“When there is something disproportionate, a domineering tendency that goes beyond morality is evident,” the pope said.
“A country that, with its forces, does these things—I’m talking about any country—that does these things in such a “superlative” way, these are immoral actions,” he added according to the Anadolu news agency.
“Even in war, there is morality to be safe-guarded. War is immoral, but the rules of war indicate some morality. But when this is not respected, you can see—as we say in Argentina—the “bad blood” of these things.”
