Pope Francis expressed his closeness Sunday to family of six Israeli hostages whose our bodies have been recovered from Gaza earlier this month, saying he had met the mom of one in every of them.
The six have been amongst about 251 hostages taken from southern Israel throughout Hamas’s unprecedented October 7 assault, which triggered the continued struggle.
Of them, 97 hostages are nonetheless held within the Gaza Strip, together with 33 the Israeli navy says are lifeless.
“I consider the Center East. So many harmless victims. I consider the moms who’ve misplaced sons to struggle. What number of younger lives minimize quick,” Francis mentioned on the finish of the Angelus prayer.
“I consider Hersh Goldberg-Polin, discovered lifeless in early September with 5 different hostages in Gaza.
“In November final 12 months, I met his mom, Rachel, whose humanity struck me. I accompany her presently. I pray for the victims and proceed to be near all of the households of the hostages,” he added.
Goldberg-Polin, an Israeli-American nationwide, was 23 when he was kidnapped from a music pageant.
He despatched his mom Rachel a textual content message saying “I like you” adopted by one other saying “I am sorry”.
A Hamas video from the day confirmed him being loaded onto a pick-up truck with a part of his left arm lacking. It had been blown off within the assault.
“Let the battle in Palestine and Israel stop. Let the violence stop. Let the hatred stop. Let the hostages be launched. Let negotiations proceed. And should options for peace be discovered,” Francis mentioned.
Hamas’s October 7 assault resulted within the deaths of 1,205 individuals, largely civilians, in accordance with an AFP tally based mostly on Israeli official figures.
Israel’s offensive has killed not less than 40,738 individuals in Gaza, in accordance with the Hamas-run territory’s well being ministry. The UN rights workplace says many of the lifeless are girls and kids.
The combating has devastated Gaza, repeatedly displaced most of its 2.4 million individuals and triggered a humanitarian disaster.
