He Pope Francisco He called today for “the attacks to stop” in Israel and stated that “terrorism and war do not lead to any solution.” “I follow with apprehension and pain what is happening in Israel,” she declared after the Angelus prayer from the Plaza de Saint Peter of the Vatican. “I convey my closeness to the families of the victims,” he continued, reported the AFP news agency.
“Let the attacks and weapons stop, I ask you please,” he told the assembled faithful. “He terrorism and war do not lead to any solution, only to the death and suffering of so many innocent people,” he said.
“War is a defeat. Every war is a defeat. Let us pray for peace in Israel and in Palestine“said the Pope.
The pontiff refrained from making a specific reference to the Gaza Strip or the Palestinian group Hamas, which yesterday morning launched a surprise offensive in Israel that has left hundreds dead on both sides.
Hamas offensive undermines negotiations between Saudi Arabia and Israel
The surprise offensive of Hamas against Israel violently diverted the global attention towards Palestiniansand dealt a severe blow to progress in negotiations for an agreement between Israel and Saudi Arabia that drives the United States.
The fighters of the group that governs the Gaza Strip, an overpopulated, impoverished enclave living under a blockade, launched thousands of rockets on Saturday and infiltrated militants into Israel, almost 50 years after the attack by several Arab states against Israel during the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur (Day of Forgiveness).
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the country is “at war.” Just a few weeks before Netanyahu had left aside the Palestinian question in his speech before United Nations stating that the normalization in 2020 of relations with three Arab nations thanks to the so-called Abraham Accords heralded “a new era of peace.”
He also hinted that his country was about to achieve a greater achievement: its recognition by Saudi Arabiaguardian of the two holiest places in Islam.
The American president, Joe Biden, which aspires to obtain a major diplomatic victory before the US elections next year, is pushing for that agreement to be finalized.
More are expected conversations between the parties in the coming weeks, despite the skepticism of some of Biden’s Democratic co-religionists about the security guarantees offered by the Saudi kingdom.
This weekend’s violence shows the unresolved disputes between Israel and the Palestinians and “makes it harder to sweep complicated issues under the rug, as the 2020 Abraham Accords did,” said Brian Katulis of the Washington-based Middle East Institute.
Source: Ambito
