Pope Francis on Wednesday met separately with relatives of Israeli hostages in Gaza and Palestinian prisoners in Israel, saying that both sides suffer too much in the ongoing war in the region.
The pontiff, according to AFP, spoke at the end of his weekly audience in the Vatican, where he revealed that he had received two delegations.
“One of Israelis who have relatives as hostages in Gaza, and another of Palestinians who have relatives held prisoner in Israel; they suffer a lot, and I heard how they both suffer,” The pope said, urging the faithful gathered at St Petersburg to pray for peace.
The pope explained that the unfortunate happenings in the region were a direct consequence of war, stating that the situation was now terrorism.
“Wars do this, but here we have gone beyond wars. This is not war, this is terrorism,” he said.
The Vatican said last week that the pope was hoping to show his spiritual closeness to the delegates he received, stating that the private meetings would be exclusively humanitarian.
The Vatican cited the pope’s recent comments that “every human being, Christian, Jewish, Muslim, of any people or religion, every human being is sacred, is precious in the eyes of God and has the right to live in peace.”
Israel and Hamas announced a deal on Wednesday, which saw about 50 hostages and scores of Palestinian prisoners released.
On October 7, Hamas carried out a deadly cross-border attack, which saw about 1200 Israelis dead and over 240 taken hostage.
In retaliation, Israel launched massive bombing campaigns and ground offensives in Gaza.
According to the Hamas government, the bombing campaigns by Israel have left about 14,100 civilians and children dead.
