Pope Francis calls for immediate ceasefire and humanitarian aid in Gaza

“Enough Please! Let’s all say: enough, please! Stop!” These words, in a tone of strong appeal, were spoken by Pope Francis this Sunday (3), in relation to Israel’s cowardly attacks on the Palestinian population, which have already resulted in the deaths of more than 30 thousand people, most of them children and women. “Do you really think about building a better world in this way, do you really think about achieving peace?”, he asked.

In his speech, the Pope also emphasized the urgency of an immediate suspension of attacks and safe access for the Palestinian population to humanitarian aid.

“I encourage the continuation of negotiations for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and the entire region so that all hostages [israelenses] be released and returned to their families, who are waiting for them in anguish, and that the civilian population [de Gaza] can have safe access to the humanitarian aid they so desperately need,” he said.

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Francis also said: “I carry in my heart every day, with pain, the suffering of the populations of Palestine and Israel due to the ongoing hostilities.” The thousands of dead, injured, homeless and the immense destruction in the region, he declared, “cause pain, with terrible consequences for the small and defenseless, who see their future compromised”.

The Pope also defended peace in the case of the War in Ukraine and, remembering March 5, International Day of Awareness on Disarmament and Non-Proliferation of Weapons, he highlighted: “How many resources are wasted on military spending which, due to the current situation, unfortunately they continue to increase?”

He concluded by highlighting: “I sincerely hope that the international community understands that disarmament is, above all, a duty, disarmament is a moral duty. Let’s get this through our heads. And this requires the courage of all members of the great family of nations to move from the balance of fear to the balance of trust.”

(PL)