Pope Francis called on Wednesday to do everything possible to avoid a human catastrophe in the Gaza Strip and expressed concern about the possible expansion of the conflict.
“Today I also think of Palestine and Israel, the victims are increasing and the situation in Gaza is desperate,” Francis said during the general audience held in St. Peter’s Square.
“Please do everything possible to avoid a human catastrophe,” asked the head of the Catholic Church, quoted by the Spanish agency EFE.
Israel declared war on Hamas after the Islamist group carried out an unprecedented incursion into Israeli territory on October 7, in which more than 1,400 people were killed, according to authorities in Tel Aviv.
Israel has since bombed the Gaza Strip, causing more than three thousand deaths and one million displaced people, according to the UN.
An explosion on Tuesday at the Al Ahli Anglican hospital in the northern Gaza Strip killed “between 200 and 300 people,” according to a statement from the Gaza Ministry of Health cited by the French agency AFP.
Hamas and other Palestinian sources claimed that the hospital was bombed by Israel and that the attack caused at least 500 deaths.
Israel denied the accusation and said the explosion was caused by the failed firing of a rocket by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad group.
Islamic Jihad also denied responsibility and returned the accusation to Israel.
Source: TSF
