Francis with the families of prisoners on the day of rekindled hope
The pontiff met separately early this morning with relatives of 12 hostages held by Hamas and families from Gaza. “This is not war, this is terrorism,” Francis said. Do not “go on with the passions that in the end kill everyone.” The pause should lead to the release of the first 10 Israelis and 30 Palestinians starting tomorrow at 10 am. The fate of Asian hostages remains uncertain, including that of a Thai woman who has likely given birth to a baby in Hamas captivity.
Vatican City (AsiaNews) - "This is not war, this is terrorism. Please, let's move forward for peace,” said Pope Francis at the end of today’s general audience in St Peter's Square.
With such words, the pontiff expressed his state of mind after meeting separately with two delegations this morning, one of Israeli families with relatives held hostage in Gaza and one of Palestinian families from Gaza.
Vatican Press Office Director Matteo Bruni announced this initiative a few days ago, describing the two distinct moments as “an exclusively humanitarian nature” to show “spiritual closeness to the sufferings of each one.”
The two meetings took place early in the morning, before the general audience, coinciding with the announcement of a four-day truce linked to the release of at least 50 Israeli hostages and 150 Palestinian women and teenagers detained in Israel.
Fighting is expected to stop in Gaza starting at 10 am tomorrow morning – Hamas is expected to release the hostages in groups of 10, while Israel will release 30 prisoners at a time.
According to a statement from Israel's embassy to the Holy See, the families of 12 of the approximately 240 hostages held by Hamas since 7 October have arrived in Rome.
The hostages include young people like Or and Andrey, seized at the Nova Festival in the Negev desert; parents and children like Gabriela and Mia abducted while visiting a relative in Kibbutz Nir Yitzhak, about 4 kilometres from the Gaza border; and seniors like 75-year-old Alex, the son of Holocaust survivors, active in interfaith dialogue between Christians and Jews, committed not to forget that great tragedy.
In the other meeting, Francis met with families of Palestinian. According to Israeli human rights association B'Tselem, Israel holds 4,764 Palestinians for "security" reasons (as of late September before the start of the current war), including at least 170 teenagers and about 30 women, detained for different reasons, not necessarily linked to political violence.
These families "are suffering so much. I have heard how they both suffer. This is what wars do," Francis said, addressing the faithful in St Peter's Square.
"Please, let us move forward for peace. Pray a lot for peace. May the Lord put his hand there, help us to solve problems and not to go on with the passions that in the end kill everyone. Let us pray for the Palestinian people, let us pray for the Israeli people, for peace. My blessing to everyone.”
Praying accompanies the hope rekindled lately in families by the prospect of embracing loved ones again soon.
It also raises the hope that the pause for the release of hostages and prisoners and the access of humanitarian aid to the Strip – negotiated by Qatar, Egypt and the United States – is only a first step towards a more lasting ceasefire.
Under the terms of the agreement, the pause is only a temporary, which can only be extended for a further 10 days if conditions make it possible to release more Israeli hostages and other Palestinian prisoners.
After approving the agreement, the Israeli government reiterated that when the pause expires it plans to resume military operations in Gaza to dismantle Hamas.
It should also be added that only Israeli hostages are mentioned in the agreement. So far, nothing has transpired about the parallel negotiations by Qatar over dozens of Thais and Nepalis kidnapped from Israeli kibbutzim near Gaza.
In fact, foreign migrants are the forgotten victims of this conflict. One of them, Nutthawaree Munkan, is a 35-year-old Thai woman, who was eight months pregnant at the time of her abduction and is believed to have given birth while in captivity. Many hope that she and her newborn child will be among the first hostages to be freed.
.png)
