VATICAN CITY
Pope Leo XIV has condemned the “rubble and open wounds” left behind by wars, singling out the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza as he conducted his first Christmas homily. Fragile is the flesh of defenceless populations, tried by so many wars, ongoing or concluded, leaving behind rubble and open wounds,” the pope said at the mass in St Peter’s Basilica.
“How […] can we not think of the tents in Gaza, exposed for weeks to rain, wind and cold,” he said. Meanwhile, Israel’s parliament gave the initial go-ahead for a government-empowered inquiry into the surprise October 7, 2023 attack by Hamas on southern Israel rather than the expected independent investigation demanded by families of the victims.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has resisted calls to establish a state commission to investigate Israel’s failures in the run-up to its deadliest day and has taken no responsibility for the attack that sparked the two-year Gaza war.
His ruling coalition voted on Wednesday to advance a bill which grants parliament members the authority to pick panel members for an inquiry and gives Netanyahu’s cabinet the power to set its mandate.
Critics say the move circumvents Israel’s 1968 Commissions of Inquiry Law, under which the president of the Supreme Court appoints an independent panel to investigate major state failures such as those which preceded the 1973 Yom Kippur war.
