The Holy See is ready “to take any initiative to achieve a ceasefire and the return to direct negotiation” in Israel and Palestine as violence continues to rage this week.
“What we care about is that there is a resumption of direct negotiations between the two sides,” said Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican’s Secretary of State.
“This conflict is bringing ruin as well as deaths,” said the cardinal Parolin in a report released by Vatican News on Tuesday, May 18.
“Our concern is that of the Holy Father and the commitment to do everything possible to stop the conflict,” he said.
Asked if the Vatican would act as a mediator, Cardinal Parolin said “someone has said they don’t want any interference.”
“But certainly, we must take any action that can, first of all, help lead to a ceasefire, to put an end to this long-standing conflict, to reach a resolution according to the two-state solution,” he added.
On Sunday, Pope Francis made an impassioned appeal for an end to the violence in the Holy Land.
He said the violent armed clashes “risk degenerating into a spiral of death and destruction,” noting that “numerous people have been injured, and many innocents have died.”
“Among them there are also children, and this is terrible and unacceptable. Their death is a sign that one does not want to build the future, but wants to destroy it,” said the pontiff.
“The crescendo of hatred and violence that is affecting various cities in Israel is a serious wound to fraternity and peaceful coexistence among citizens, which will be difficult to heal if there is not an immediate opening to dialogue,” he added.
On Tuesday, Israel bombarded Gaza with air strikes and Palestinian militants resumed cross-border rocket fire after a brief overnight lull.
Israeli leaders said they were pressing on with an offensive to destroy the capabilities of the armed factions Hamas and Islamic Jihad, amid calls by the United States and other world powers for an end to the conflict.
Two Thai workers were killed and seven people were wounded in a rocket strike on an Israeli farm just over the Gaza border, police said. Gaza’s ruling Hamas Islamist group and Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility.
Gaza residents said Israel was keeping up intense air strikes. Witnesses said an Israeli tank shell hit a paint factory in the southern Gaza Strip, setting it on fire.
The current hostilities are the most serious between the militant group and Israel in years, and in a departure from previous Gaza conflicts have helped to fuel violence in Israeli cities between Jews and Arabs.
Gaza medical officials say 215 Palestinians have been killed, including 61 children and 36 women, and more than 1,400 wounded. Israeli authorities say 12 people have been killed in Israel, including two children.
Nearly 450 buildings in the Gaza strip have been destroyed or badly damaged, including six hospitals and nine primary care health centers, the United Nations humanitarian agency said. Some 47,000 of the 52,000 displaced had fled to UN schools. – with a report from Reuters
