Pope Francis: 'Palestine is suffering inhumane attacks'

Thousands of people in Gaza have been forced to move many times - Image Vatican Media

Source: Vatican News

At the end of his Wednesday General Audience, Pope Francis once again made an appeal for peace in the world, saying the fatality statistics coming from Ukraine are "terrible" and that Palestine is suffering "inhumane attacks."

Last month, the Wall Street Journal released information stating the number of fatalities reached one million people-both Ukrainian and Russian. Ukrainian officials reported that more than 12,000 civilians had been killed in the month of June alone.

Do not forget nations facing violence

In his appeal, Pope Francis reiterated that "war is a defeat from the very beginning" and that it "does not forgive."

"Let us pray to the Lord for peace; may He give peace to all, to all of us," he said. "And let us not forget Myanmar; let us not forget Palestine, which is suffering inhumane attacks; let us not forget Israel, and let us not forget all nations at war."

More than 43,000 Palestinians are known to have died since October 7, 2023. Many thousands more are suffering from life-changing injuries and huge numbers of people are missing, under the rubble.

The UN's Acting Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator reported that no food has entered Gaza since October 2, adding that food supplies are running low.

Pope Francis also lamented the massive financial outlay on arms manufacturing, which he said "yields the most profit today."

This, he said, "is a statistic that should frighten us."

The global arms trade was valued at just under 100 billion euros in 2021, according to the most recently available data.