Pope Francis expresses sorrow over attacks on churches

Pope Francis expressed his deep sadness regarding the recent attacks on the Greek Orthodox Porphyrius Church and an Anglican church hospital in Gaza. He followed the situation in Israel and Palestine and expressed his pain and concern for the victims, their families, and the hostages.

He also mentioned his thoughts on the serious humanitarian situation in Gaza and the recent attacks on the Anglican hospital and Greek Orthodox parish. The Pope reiterated his appeal for humanitarian aid, the release of hostages, and the need for spaces to be opened. He also called for a swift end to all ongoing wars, emphasizing that war is a defeat and a destruction of human fraternity.

"I follow what is happening in Israel and Palestine. I express my particular pain and concern, pray, and stand by the hostages, the victims, and their families. I am thinking of the serious humanitarian situation in Gaza. It hurts me that the Anglican hospital and the Greek Orthodox parish have been hit in recent days,” Francis said.

“I reiterate my appeal for spaces to be opened, for humanitarian aid to continue to arrive, and for hostages to be freed,” the pope added.

Gaza's Health Ministry reported that a minimum of 471 Palestinians lost their lives during an Israeli airstrike on the hospital on Tuesday evening. Israel has rejected any accountability for the attack, despite the presence of both forensic and circumstantial evidence suggesting otherwise.

The hospital is known as the Baptist hospital for historical reasons, but it has been under the Anglican Church, or Church of England, since the early 1980s.

Numerous accounts from late Thursday confirmed that an Israeli bomb caused the destruction of the Greek Orthodox Porphyrius Church in Gaza City. The explosion resulted in the loss of over a dozen lives and left many others wounded.

Gaza Health Ministry spokesman Ashraf Qudra said later that at least 16 Palestinian Christians were among those killed in direct Israeli attacks on the church.

WHAT HAPPENED

Hamas' military wing, the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, announced that they launched a comprehensive attack against Israel called "Al-Aqsa Flood" on the morning of October 7.

While thousands of rockets were fired from Gaza towards Israel, armed groups entered the settlements in the region. The Israeli army also launched an attack on the Gaza Strip with dozens of warplanes.

The Palestinian Ministry of Health announced that approximately 3 thousand people were killed and more than 10 thousand people were injured in Gaza in the Israeli attacks. In the occupied West Bank, it was reported that 1000 Israelis were killed in the attacks organized from Gaza and 5 thousand people were wounded, 106 of them seriously.

The Israeli army hit Damascus and Aleppo airports. As the Middle East is once again turning into a bloodbath, a deadline has been set for nearly 2 and a half million Palestinians to leave the blockaded Gaza.

Most recently, Israel attacked the al-Ahli Baptist Hospital in Gaza, killing civilians.

Source: Anadolu Agency