ROME — Pope Francis appealed Wednesday for the immediate release of Israeli hostages held by the Hamas terror group on the Gaza strip, while criticizing Israel’s “total siege” on Palestinians in Gaza.
“I continue to follow what is happening in Israel and Palestine with tears and apprehension: many people killed, others injured,” the pontiff stated at the end of his weekly general audience in Saint Peter’s Square.
“I pray for those families who have seen a feast day transformed into a day of mourning,” he said, “and I ask that the hostages be released immediately.”
The pope went on to recognize Israel’s right to self-defense while questioning the extent of the measures employed.
“It is the right of those who are attacked to defend themselves, but I am very concerned about the total siege under which the Palestinians are living in Gaza, where there have also been many innocent victims,” Francis said.
“Terrorism and extremism do not help reach a solution to the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians, but fuel hatred, violence, revenge, and only cause each other to suffer,” he concluded. “The Middle East does not need war, but peace, a peace built on dialogue and the courage of fraternity.”
Gunshots and blood stains are seen on a door and walls of a house where civilians were killed days earlier in an attack by Hamas militants on this kibbutz near the border with Gaza, on October 10, 2023 in Kfar Aza, Israel. (Alexi J. Rosenfeld/Getty Images)
The pope has been criticized by Catholic intellectuals like George Weigel for falling back on the Vatican “default position” of appealing to both sides for restraint in a case where straightforward condemnation of last Saturday’s terror attack was in order.
The Israeli Embassy to the Holy See issued its own statement warning against Vatican declarations that could suggest equal guilt of victims and perpetrators of Saturday’s atrocities.
“In these circumstances, the use of linguistic ambiguities and terms that allude to a false symmetry should be deplored,” the embassy said.
“The response of Israel cannot be described as anything other than the right of legitimate self-defense,” the statement continued. “To suggest parallelisms where they don’t exist isn’t diplomatic pragmatism, it’s just wrong.”