Key points
- Situation in Gaza Strip is worrying and painful: Pope Leo XIV
- Israel’s “starvation policy” has killed 326 Palestinians since March 2
- UN warns 14,000 babies are at risk of dying within 48 hours
ISLAMABAD: Pope Leo XIV called Wednesday for sufficient humanitarian aid to be allowed into war-ravaged Gaza, where humanitarian agencies say a total blockade has sparked critical food and medicine shortages.
“The situation in the Gaza Strip is worrying and painful. I renew my heartfelt appeal to allow the entry of sufficient humanitarian aid and to put an end to the hostilities, the heartbreaking price of which is paid by children, the elderly, the sick,” AFP cited the pope as he saying during his first weekly general audience.
“Risk of dying”
Earlier, authorities in Gaza have said that Israel’s “starvation policy” has killed at least 326 Palestinians since March 2, as the United Nations warns that 14,000 babies are at risk of dying within 48 hours.
According to Al-Jazeera, the UN said that no aid has been distributed in Gaza, a day after Israel allowed limited humanitarian deliveries to resume.
Israel’s war on Gaza has killed at least 53,573 Palestinians and wounded 121,688, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. The Government Media Office updated the death toll to more than 61,700, saying thousands of people missing under the rubble are presumed dead.
An estimated 1,139 people were killed in Israel during the Hamas-led attacks on October 7, 2023, and more than 200 were taken captive.
