Pope Francis on Sunday welcomed a truce that has seen some hostages set free in the Middle East and prayed for further releases.
The Pope, who had a colleague read his statement as he recited Sunday’s Angelus prayer from his Casa Santa Marta residence, instead of overlooking St Peter’s Square, said dialogue is the only path to peace, and those who do not want dialogue, do not want peace.
The prayer was broadcast live on screens in St Peter’s Square and streamed on the Vatican News website.
The pope was recuperating a day after he had a CT scan which ruled out pulmonary complications and cancelled audiences for the day as the Vatican said he was getting over a “light flu”.
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The truce, a four-day pause to fighting brokered by Qatar, Egypt and the United States, provides for Hamas releasing 50 hostages in exchange for the release by Israel of 150 Palestinian prisoners.
Hamas took about 240 captives from southern Israel in an attack on October 7 that Israeli officials say killed around 1,200 people, most of them civilians.
In response, Israel, vowing to eliminate Hamas, unleashed an aerial bombing campaign and ground invasion of Gaza that the Hamas government says has killed nearly 15,000 people, also mostly civilians and some 6,000 minors.
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