"Cruelty is terrorists hiding 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 of this," the foreign ministry wrote on X.
In response to the Pope's statement today: Cruelty is terrorists hiding 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.— Israel Foreign Ministry (@IsraelMFA) Unfortunately, the Pope has chosen to…December 21, 2024
On Saturday, Pope Francis said during the Christmas address to the Roman Curia that he is informed of Israel's attacks through the phone calls he makes to the parish of the Holy Family, the only Catholic church in the Gaza Strip.
"Yesterday children were bombed. This is cruelty, this is not war,? added Francis. I want to say it because it touches my heart."
Israel's foreign ministry added that "the Pope's remarks are particularly disappointing as they are disconnected from the true and factual context of Israel's fight against jihadist terrorism, a multi-front war that was forced upon it starting on October 7".
The Pope has repeatedly called for a ceasefire in Gaza, including on December 12 at the recent audience he held at the Vatican with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, in which they discussed "the very serious humanitarian situation" in the Gaza Strip, according to the Vatican.
The war began when Hamas-led Palestinian militants attacked southern Israeli communities on October 7, 2023, killing 1200 people, mostly civilians, and taking more than 250 hostages back to Gaza, according to Israeli authorities.
Israel's retaliatory campaign, which it says is aimed at eliminating Hamas, has killed more than 45,000 people, mostly civilians, according to authorities in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip. The campaign has displaced nearly the entire population and left much of the enclave in ruins.
Israel says that at least a third of the dead have been militants and says it tries to avoid harm to civilians but is battling militants who it accuses of embedding among the population in dense urban areas. Hamas rejects this.
In recent weeks, both Israel and Hamas have announced they are close to an agreement for the release of the 97 remaining hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners and the implementation of a ceasefire.
One of Israel's main demands in the framework of the negotiations for the ceasefire in Gaza is that Hamas not be part of the next government of the enclave when the war ends.
with Reuters
