Palestine’s President Calls Pope Leo XIV Concerning Holy Land conflict

In his statement published on Palestine’s official X account Monday, the president called for an end to “settler terrorism” and “attacks on Christian and Islamic holy sites in the West Bank, including Jerusalem.” 

The Vatican said the 10th anniversary of the “Comprehensive Agreement between the Holy See and the State of Palestine,” signed on June 26, 2015, was also discussed at the end of the conversation.

This month, religious leaders and diplomats representing 20 countries denounced acts of violence against Christians in the West Bank village of Taybeh after Israeli settlers set fire to the cemetery of the fifth-century Church of St. George Al Khidr on July 7.

Last week, an Israeli military operation led to the deaths of three people and wounded many others at the Holy Family Church compound in Gaza. Israel said the city’s only Catholic church was “mistakenly hit” and regretted the “unintentional damage” to the parish.

Both the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa and Greek Orthodox Patriarch Theophilos III Jerusalem led an ecclesiastical delegation to Taybeh on July 14 and Gaza on July 18 as a sign of solidarity with local communities.

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According to the Palestinian government, approximately 59,000 people have been killed in Gaza, including more than 18,000 children and 10,000 women since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war on Oct. 7, 2023.

During a press conference held in Ramallah, West Bank, on Monday, Palestine’s prime minister Mohammad Mustafa said “Gaza has been turned into a graveyard for children.” 

“Our children are being targeted, killed, injured, starved to death, and deprived of the most basic rights: food, clean water, shelter, safety, and education,” Mustafa said. “Israel continues to use starvation as a weapon of war.”

Kristina Millare is a freelance journalist with a professional communications background in the humanitarian aid and development sector, news journalism, entertainment marketing, politics and government, business and entrepreneurship.