The Vatican, December 22 (RHC)-- The Israeli regime has responded brazenly to remarks made by Pope Francis earlier, through which the pontiff had laid bare the true nature of the brutal military onslaught that has so far claimed the lives of more than 45,200 Palestinians, mostly women and children.
“The Pope’s remarks are particularly disappointing as they are disconnected from the true and factual context of Israel’s fight against jihadist ‘terrorism’ — a multi-front war that was forced upon it starting on October 7,” an Israeli foreign ministry statement said.
The statement was referring to a retaliatory operation that was staged by Gaza’s resistance movements that day in the face of decades of deadly Israeli occupation and aggression against Palestinians.
The Holy See had earlier referred to the regime’s shameless way of recurrently bombing children across the Palestinian territory, saying, “This is cruelty, this is not war."
"I want to say it because it touches my heart," he said, adding that the situation in Gaza "corresponds to the technical definition" of genocide.
Meanwhile, the Israeli military blew up residential buildings west of Jabalia, while its helicopter gunships opened fire on the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza.
Israeli warplanes also struck a house in the city of Deir al-Balah, which is likewise located in central Gaza, killing five Palestinians and wounding some others.
According to the coastal sliver’s Civil Defense Department, the regime’s attacks against Gaza had, throughout Saturday, claimed the lives of at least 20 Palestinians. Four of the fatalities were caused after Israeli forces attacked a house in Nuseirat, which was targeted by Israeli military vehicles and gunboats.
Gaza’s Football Federation, meanwhile, reported that the genocide had cost the lives of at least 644 athletes.
Elsewhere in northern Gaza, the regime attacked the Kamal Adwan Hospital, which has been hit extremely hard during the genocide, with “bomb-laden robots” and quadcopter drones, laying a siege against the facility and pushing those inside to immediately leave the site.
Eight people were also killed and a number of others wounded after Israeli forces struck a school accommodating displaced people in the Daraj neighborhood, east of Gaza City.
