Pope Francis on Saturday again condemned Israeli airstrikes in Gaza, a day after an Israeli government minister publicly denounced the pontiff for suggesting the global community should study whether the military offensive there constitutes a genocide of the Palestinian people.
Francis opened his annual Christmas address to the Catholic cardinals who lead the Vatican’s various departments with what appeared to be a reference to Israeli airstrikes on Friday that killed at least 25 Palestinians in Gaza.
“Yesterday, children were bombed,” said the pope. “This is cruelty. This is not war. I wanted to say this because it touches the heart.”
On Saturday mourners in Gaza held funerals for 19 Palestinians — 12 of them children — killed in Israeli strikes on Friday and overnight.
The pope, as leader of the 1.4-billion-member Roman Catholic Church, is usually careful about taking sides in conflicts, but he has recently been more outspoken about Israel’s military campaign against Palestinian militant group Hamas.
In book excerpts published last month, the pontiff said some international experts said that “what is happening in Gaza has the characteristics of a genocide”.
Pope Francis (C) delivers a speech during a private audience to exchange Christmas greetings with Vatican employees at the Paul VI Hall in the Vatican. (Photo: Andreas Solaro/ AFP)Israeli Minister of Diaspora Affairs Amichai Chikli sharply criticised those comments in an unusual open letter published by Italian newspaper Il Foglio on Friday. Chikli said the pope’s remarks amounted to a “trivialisation” of the term genocide.
Israel’s foreign ministry said that Israel was defending itself against the cruelty exemplified by Hamas militants “hiding behind children while trying to murder Israeli children,” holding 100 hostages and abusing them.
“Unfortunately, the Pope has chosen to ignore all of this,” the ministry said, adding that the “death of any innocent person in a war is a tragedy.”
“Israel makes extraordinary efforts to prevent harm to innocents, while Hamas makes extraordinary efforts to increase harm to Palestinian civilians,” the ministry said.
Israeli strikes hit a number of residential builds on Friday and Saturday.
One strike hit a residential building in the built-up Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, killing at least seven, including five children and one woman, and injuring 16 others, health officials said.
In Gaza City, a strike on a house killed 12, including seven children and two women, according to Al-Ahli Hospital where the bodies were taken.
One man cradled a tiny shroud-wrapped body as mourners gathered.
Later Saturday, al-Awda Hospital said an airstrike hit a house in Nuseirat and killed four people including two children, with 14 other people wounded. Israel’s military said it was checking the report.
And Saturday night, large explosions could be seen on the Gaza skyline.
Five bodies arrived soon afterward at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah.
Wounded Palestinians, including children, are brought to al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital for medical treatment following the Israeli attack on a house belonging to Abu Samra family in Deir al-Balah, Gaza.(Photo: Ashraf Amra/ Anadolu via Getty Images)Meanwhile, Gaza’s health ministry said there was ongoing intense and heavy bombing of the Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza, which it said was occurring in an “unprecedented manner” and without prior warning.
The hospital is one of only three barely operational medical facilities on the northern edge of the enclave, where the Israeli army has been operating since October.
“The bombing is being conducted with explosives and tank fire, directly targeting us while we are present inside the hospital departments,” the ministry said.
The director of Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahiya in largely isolated northern Gaza said in an online message late Saturday that Israel’s military had told the facility to evacuate.
Dr. Husam Abu Safiyeh asserted that the intensive care unit, maternity ward and other departments were being targeted, and said evacuating would mean transferring 66 patients.
Israel’s military in response to questions said it was “not aware of any strikes in the area of the hospital at this time.”
There was no immediate response to questions about the reported evacuation order.
Gaza’s Health Ministry earlier reported continuous gunfire and Israeli shelling near the hospital, and it issued an urgent appeal for medical and food supplies to be delivered to the facility as Israel’s military pressed its latest offensive.
Safiyeh has said the facility faced “severe shortages” including of food and asserted that requests for essential medical supplies and ways to maintain oxygen, water and electricity systems “have largely gone unmet.”
Aid groups have said Israeli military operations and armed gangs have hindered their ability to distribute aid.
The Israeli military organization dealing with humanitarian affairs for Gaza said Saturday it had led an operation delivering thousands of food packages, flour and water to the Beit Hanoun area in the north.
With wires
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