Pope Francis will meet with the president of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, on Thursday (12), according to information from the Vatican.
The pontiff has become more incisive in criticizing Israel’s military campaign in Gaza.
Abbas travels to Italy this week, where he is also expected to meet with Italian President Sergio Mattarella and Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.
The Vatican announced the meeting with Abbas in a brief note this Tuesday (10), but did not provide further details.
In November, the Pope suggested that the global community should assess whether Israel’s campaign in Gaza constitutes a genocide of the Palestinian people. The comment, in a forthcoming book, drew a public rebuke from Israel’s ambassador to the Holy See.
Israel claims that accusations of genocide in Gaza are baseless and that it is only persecuting Hamas and other armed groups.
Gaza authorities say nearly 45,000 Palestinians have been killed and more than 106,000 injured in the Israeli offensive, while the majority of Gaza’s 2 million residents are homeless or displaced.
Pope Francis and Mahmoud Abbas have met on other occasions. The last time they spoke by phone was in November 2023, a month after the start of the conflict between Israel and Hamas.
In October, the Catholic religious leader criticized the international community’s “shameful inability” to put an end to the war.
The Pope, who says he is in daily contact with a Catholic parish in Gaza, also criticized Israel’s air strikes in Lebanon – against the Hezbollah group – as “beyond morality”.
Understand the conflict in the Gaza Strip
Israel has carried out intense airstrikes in the Gaza Strip since last year, after Hamas invaded the country and killed 1,200 people, according to Israeli counts. Furthermore, the radical group holds dozens of hostages.
Hamas does not recognize Israel as a state and claims Israeli territory for Palestine.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly promised to destroy Hamas’ military capabilities and recover people detained in Gaza.
In addition to the air offensive, the Israeli Army carries out land incursions into Palestinian territory. This caused much of Gaza’s population to be displaced.
The UN and several humanitarian institutions have warned of a catastrophic humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip, with a lack of food, medicine and the spread of diseases.
The Israeli population is constantly protesting against Netanyahu, accusing the prime minister of failing to reach a ceasefire agreement so that the hostages can be released.
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This content was originally published in Pope Francis will meet with the president of the Palestinian Authority on Thursday (12) on the CNN Brasil website.
Source: CNN Brasil
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