Washington DC, US/Vatican City
Reuters
US President Joe Biden spoke with Pope Francis on Sunday and discussed the ongoing conflict in the Middle East between Israel and Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, the White House and the Vatican said in separate statements.
They discussed “the need to prevent escalation in the region and to work toward a durable peace in the Middle East,” the White House said.
Pope Francis leads the Angelus prayer from his window at the Vatican, on 22nd October, 2023. PICTURE: Vatican Media/Handout via Reuters
The Vatican earlier said the call, which lasted about 20 minutes, “focused on conflict situations in the world and the need to identify paths to peace.”
Hamas attacked Israel on 7th October, killing over 1,400 people.
Israel has since retaliated with deadly air strikes on Gaza, a 45 kilometre long strip of land that is part of the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories and home to 2.3 million people.
Gaza has been ruled politically since 2007 by Hamas. Israel’s air strikes have killed over 4,700 people, Palestinian officials say.
In his call with Pope Francis, Biden, who is a Catholic, condemned the attack by Hamas and affirmed the need to protect civilians in Gaza, the White House said.
They also discussed Biden’s recent visit to Israel and efforts for delivery of food, medicine, and other humanitarian assistance in Gaza, according to the White House.
The Pope has several times called for the release of hostages taken by Hamas during its 7th October attack. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Sunday that after the release of two US citizens on Friday the United States hoped for more hostages to be freed by Hamas.
Earlier in the day, Francis told crowds in St Peter’s Square he was deeply saddened by the “grave situation in Gaza,” where an Anglican hospital and a Greek Orthodox church had been bombed.
“Brothers, stop,” Pope Francis said.
Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby meets with the parents and extended family of 22-year-old Yosef Malachi, who was killed in Kibbutz Kfar Aza following a deadly infiltration by Hamas gunmen, at the King David Hotel in Jerusalem on 22nd October, 2023. PICTURe: Reuters/Sinan Abu Mayzer
Meanwhile, the Church of England’s spiritual head said on Sunday he had “no idea” how many people died in a blast last week at the Anglican hospital in the Gaza Strip, and that assuming Israeli culpability could be tantamount to anti-Semitic libel.
The 17th October explosion at Al Ahli hospital has been among the most hotly disputed events of the Gaza war now in its third week.
The governing Palestinian Islamist group Hamas accused Israel of carrying out an air strike on the hospital. Israel denied that, saying the blast was caused by a Palestinian rocket falling short after being launched at Israel. The Israeli account has been supported by US, French and Canadian analyses.
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The Gaza health ministry has put the hospital death toll at 471. An Israeli official said it appeared to be “several dozen”. A US intelligence report estimated the number of those killed to be “probably at the low end of the 100 to 300 spectrum”.
Asked during a visit to Jerusalem if he could corroborate a figure for the fatalities, Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby told reporters: “I have no idea about how many civilians there were. I’ve heard so many numbers.”
“What I have said to people, publicly, is: ‘Don’t assume it’s Israel. You have no proof that it’s Israel. Many people have made a clear case it’s not. At the very best, do not start propagating another blood libel,'” he said.
“Blood libel” is a term that has historically been used for false accusations of atrocities committed by Jews that sometimes stoked violent antisemitism and were used to set off pogroms.
