O papa Francisco, addressing conflicts in the Middle East and Ukraine in his annual speech to diplomats, said this Monday (8) that “indiscriminately attacking” civilians is a war crime because it violates international humanitarian law.
Francis, 87, made the comments in a 45-minute speech to accredited Vatican envoys from 184 countries. In it, he also spoke about conflicts in Africa and Asia, the immigration crises in the United States and Latin America, climate change and the persecution of Christians.
Expressing concern that the war between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas in the Gaza Strip could spread across the Middle East, the papa called for a “ceasefire on all fronts, including in Lebanon.”
He condemned Hamas' cross-border attack on October 7, from Gaza into southern Israel, as an “atrocious” act of “terrorism and extremism”, and renewed the call for the immediate release of those still imprisoned for militants in Gaza.
In speeches that linked the two conflicts, Francisco said that modern warfare often does not distinguish between military and civilian objectives.
There is no conflict that does not end up, in some way, “indiscriminately affecting” the civilian population, he stated.
“The events in Ukraine and Gaza are clear proof of this. We cannot forget that serious violations of international humanitarian law are war crimes and that it is not enough to point them out, but it is also necessary to prevent them.”
“A greater effort is needed by the international community to defend and implement humanitarian law, which appears to be the only way to guarantee the defense of human dignity in situations of war,” he said.
Israel's military campaign in densely populated Gaza has killed more than 23,000 Palestinians, according to Palestinian health authorities. Israel says 1,200 people were killed in Hamas' Oct. 7 attack and about 240 were taken hostage.
Thousands of Ukrainian civilians have been killed since Russia's large-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
“Perhaps we need to realize more clearly that civilian victims are not 'collateral damage,' but men and women, with first and last names, who lose their lives,” Francis said.
The pontiff also stated that the resurgence of anti-Semitism since the start of the Gaza war was a “scourge” that must be eliminated from society.
Elsewhere in his speech, Francis again attacked the arms industry, calling for the creation of a fund in which money saved from reducing weapons stocks would be diverted to eliminate hunger.
Source: CNN Brasil
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