Pope calls for humanitarian aid to enter Gaza
Pope Leo XIV has called for sufficient humanitarian aid to be allowed into the besieged Gaza Strip.
The new pope made the remarks during his first weekly general audience in St. Peter’s Square on Wednesday.
“I renew my heartfelt appeal to allow the entrance of dignified humanitarian aid to Gaza and to put an end to the hostilities whose heartbreaking price is being paid by children, the elderly and sick people,” he said.
The world Catholic leader called the situation in the Palestinian besieged territory “yet more worrying and saddening.”
Leo was elected the leader of the Catholic Church on May 8 to succeed the late Pope Francis. He has mentioned the situation in Gaza several times in the first weeks of his papacy.
In his first Sunday message on May 11, the new pope called for an immediate ceasefire in the besieged Palestinian territory.
Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, is facing mounting international pressure for using starvation as a tool of war by restricting aid access to the besieged enclave, in violation of international humanitarian law.
Britain, France, and Canada– Israel’s closest allies– have threatened Israel with sanctions over the escalating military offensive in Gaza and the blockade on humanitarian aid.
Israel said on Monday that it would allow aid to enter Gaza after an 11-week blockade on the besieged Palestinian region.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) later said that it had received Israeli approval to send around 100 more trucks into Gaza. However, despite Israel’s pledge to ease the near-total blockade in place for nearly three months, only five trucks entered the territory on Monday.
UN officials and humanitarian groups say that’s far from sufficient.
Israel blocked all aid from entering Gaza on March 2, before resuming a brutal military assault on March 19.
International aid agencies have warned that Israeli plans to control aid distribution in Gaza, including the US-backed proposal, will only add to the suffering in the devastated Palestinian territory.
Euro-Med Human Rights reported Wednesday that at least 26 Palestinians — including nine children — died in the past 24 hours due to starvation and lack of medical care in Gaza.
The UN’s humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher said on Tuesday that 14,000 babies in Gaza could die in the next 48 hours if aid doesn’t reach them.
