“Attacks, even targeted ones, and killings can never be a solution. They do not help to follow the path of justice, the path of peace, but generate even more hatred and revenge,” he said, Vatican News reported.
He also called for the “courage to resume dialogue so that the fighting stops immediately in Gaza and on all fronts and that the prisoners are freed” while also providing the population with humanitarian aid.
Israel, flouting a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire, has faced international condemnation amid its continued brutal offensive on Gaza since last October.
Nearly 39,600 Palestinians have since been killed, mostly women and children, and nearly 91,400 injured, according to local health authorities.
Almost 10 months into the Israeli war, vast tracts of Gaza lie in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water and medicine.
Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, which ordered it to immediately halt its military operation in the southern city of Rafah, where more than 1 million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before it was invaded on May 6.
SD/