‘Stop the clamour of arms!’ His Holiness Pope Francis tells Israeli, Palestinian leaders

Rescue workers assist victims amid the rubble left by an Israeli air strike on Gaza City

Pope Francis appeals for calm in the Holy Land as escalating violence threatens to degenerate “into a spiral of death and destruction.”

By Christopher Wells

Pope Francis appealed “in the name of God” for calm in the Holy Land, after seven days of fighting that has left scores of people dead and hundreds more wounded.

The deaths of dozens of children among them are particularly “terrible and unacceptable," the Pope said. “Their death is a sign that people do not want to build the future, but to destroy it.”

He warned that the ongoing violence in Israel and the Gaza Strip risks degenerating “into a spiral of death and destruction,” with wounds to “fraternity and peaceful coexistence” that will be difficult to heal without an immediate return to dialogue.

The Pope urged Israeli and Palestinian leaders “to stop the clamour of arms and to walk the path of peace, with the help of the international community." …

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