Gaza Killings: Pope Surprises the World with his Statement

Pope Francis on Wednesday frowned at the killing of Palestinians near the Gaza-Israel border, saying the killings will only lead to more violence, and begged for dialogue to bring justice and peace to the Middle East.

“I express my great pain for the dead and wounded and I am close in prayer and affection to all those who are suffering,” he told tens of thousands of people at his general audience in St. Peter’s Square.

“I repeat that the use of violence never leads to peace. War begets war and violence begets violence.”

Israeli forces, on Monday, killed 60 Palestinians near the Gaza-Israel border during demonstrations against the opening of the U.S. embassy in Jerusalem, in the bloodiest day in Gaza in years.

Pope Francis, who had visited Israel and Palestinian territories in 2014, appealed to both sides and the international community to redouble efforts “so that dialogue, justice and peace prevail”.

In December 2017, after U.S. President Donald Trump announced the decision to move the embassy, the pope called for Jerusalem’s “status quo” to be respected, saying new tension in the Middle East would further inflame world conflicts.

The pope while speaking earlier in an audience of a group of Polish World War Two veterans, said: “We never learn.”