The Australian / AFP | Ella Ide | 24.11.23
The Pope has said the conflict in Gaza has gone beyond war and become terrorism after meeting Israeli and Palestinian delegations visiting the Vatican.
Francis on Wednesday met separately with Israeli relatives of Hamas hostages and Palestinians with family in Gaza, while warning that the ongoing conflict could result in “a mountain of dead”.
Speaking off the cuff at the end of his general audience, the Pope said: “This morning I received two delegations, one a delegation of Israelis who have relatives who are hostages in Gaza, and another made up of Palestinians who have relatives who are prisoners in Israel. They are really suffering.
“I felt how both are suffering.
“This is what wars do, but here we have gone beyond war. This is not a war, this is terrorism,” he added, without specifying whether he was referring to the October 7 attack on Israel by Hamas or Israel’s military operation in Gaza launched in response, or both
“Please, let’s go ahead and pray for peace. Pray a lot for peace,”
The Palestinians present claimed the Pope used the word “genocide” during their meeting to describe what was happening in Gaza. “I am not aware of him using that word,” Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni told Agence France-Presse, adding that he had been present at the meeting.
Francis “used the terms he used to express himself during the weekly audience and words that in any case represent the terrible situation in Gaza”, Mr Bruni said.
The Pope has never described it as genocide in public.
“He spoke to us about what he already knew about Gaza, and he’s the one who described what’s happened as a genocide”, Shireen Hilal from Bethlehem insisted. “He said that terror cannot or should not justify terror.”
The Vatican said last week the the 86-year-old Pope hoped to show his “spiritual closeness” during the private meetings, which it said would be “exclusively humanitarian in nature”.
Each delegation said following the meetings that they believed Francis could use his moral influence to help them.
As well is carrying out the worst cross-border attack in Israel’s history, which left around 1200 people dead, most of them civilians, Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad took an estimated 240 mostly civilians hostage.
In retaliation, Israel launched a bombing campaign and ground offensive in Gaza, which the Hamas government said had killed 14,100 people, mostly civilians, thousands of them children.
“Let us pray that the difficulties resolve themselves in dialogue and negotiation and not with a mountain of dead on each side,” Francis said in a video message released on Wednesday night.
Rachel Goldberg, whose 23-year-old son Hersh Goldberg-Polin was kidnapped by Hamas, said the Pope “has a lot of influence”. “He’s very respected in the Muslim world, in the Jewish world, really irrespective of religious background.
“So I think that when he speaks, the world really listens.”
Palestinian Yousef Lalkhoury said the Pope was capable of asking for a “just peace” for his people.
“We have urged him to visit Gaza because we believe he can stop the war,” Mr Lalkhoury said.
Short of freeing the hostages, the Israeli delegation said it hoped Francis could push for the Red Cross to be get access to them.
Israel and Hamas announced a deal on Wednesday allowing at least 50 hostages and scores of Palestinian prisoners to be freed, while offering besieged Gaza residents a four-day truce after weeks of all-out war. The deal has been delayed until at least Friday
“I’m not counting hostages being freed in this deal until I see them walk over the border and see them embraced safely,” said Ms Goldberg, who was among 12 families of hostages represented in the meeting with the Pope.
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