Pope denounces Israeli soldiers' actions in Gaza as ‘terrorism’

“Some call it war, others call it terrorism. Yes, it is both war and terrorism,” the Pope says about Israeli soldiers.

The devasating weeks of Israeli attacks that have killed, amounts to “terrorism,” Pope Francis said.

“Some would say, ‘It is war. It is terrorism.’ Yes, it is war. It is terrorism,” Francis said at his weekly blessing at St. Peter's Square, speaking after reports emerged of Israeli snipers killing two Christian women in Gaza’s sole Catholic church.

Deploring "grave and painful news" from Gaza, including airstrikes on "unarmed civilians," he told Sunday mass worshipers: "Let us not forget our brothers suffering from wars in Ukraine, Palestine, Israel and other conflict regions. May Christmas' approach strengthen ways leading to peace."

Israeli snipers murdered a mother and her daughter on Saturday and shot seven other people at the Parish of the Holy Family, the only Catholic church in the Gaza, according to the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem.

Israel, flouting a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire, has faced international condemnation amid its continued brutal offensive on Gaza since an Oct. 7 attack last year by the Palestinian resistance group, Hamas.

The Israeli onslaught has since killed more than 40,000 people, mostly women and children, and injured over 92,400, according to local health authorities.

More than 10 months into the Israeli onslaught, vast tracts of Gaza lie in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water and medicine.

Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which ordered it to immediately halt its military operation in the southern city of Rafah, where more than 1 million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before it was invaded on May 6.