GAZA (Palestine Foundation Information Center) Pope Francis on Thursday stepped up his recent criticism of Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza, calling the humanitarian situation in the Palestinian enclave “very serious and shameful”.
In a yearly address to diplomats delivered on his behalf by an aide, Francis appeared to reference deaths caused by winter cold in Gaza, where there is almost no electricity.
“We cannot accept that children are freezing to death because hospitals have been destroyed or a country’s energy network has been hit,” he said.
“We cannot in any way accept the bombing of civilians,” he added.
The Pope, 88, was present for the address but asked an aide to read it as he is recovering from a cold.
The Gaza’s Health Ministry has updated the death toll from Israel’s war. The 46,006 Palestinians recorded killed are those victims who were actually received at overrun hospitals in Gaza.
Thousands are still trapped under the rubble of homes and residential buildings hit by Israeli forces. Among the dead and buried are thousands of children, women, and elderly Palestinians.
The UN agency for children, UNICEF, says since the beginning of 2025 at least 74 children have been killed in Israeli attacks.
