Pope says Israel-Hamas war has gone beyond war to 'terrorism'

Pope Francis claimed that the conflict has evolved from a war to “terrorism” during his separate meetings on Wednesday with Palestinian and Israeli families who had relatives in Gaza and hostages held by Hamas. Shortly after the early-morning sessions in his home, Francis gave spontaneous remarks to his Wednesday general audience in St. Peter’s Square. He claimed he had firsthand knowledge of how “both sides are suffering” in the dispute. “Wars have this effect. Here, though, we’ve moved past conflicts. This isn’t combat. It’s terrorism, he declared. In order to “avoid going ahead with passions, which in the end, kill everyone,” he begged for prayers from both sides. Later on Wednesday, both parties were scheduled to have separate press conferences. The discussions and the pope’s remarks occurred just hours after Hamas and the Israeli government decided to exchange at least 150 Palestinian prisoners for the release of at least 50 terrorist hostages, permit humanitarian relief, and silence the gunfire in Gaza for at least four days. Since the Hamas attack on October 7, which killed 1,200 people, largely civilians, according to Israeli counts, Israel has placed Gaza under siege and unrelenting bombardment. Since then, over 13,000 Gazans have died, with over 40% of them being children, according to medical professionals in the enclave ruled by Hamas. The UN has certified these data as credible. (With agency inputs)