In front of the Holy Sepulchre, at the heart of the Christian quarter in Jerusalem, Ghassan Makhalfeh, 60, spoke softly about the death of Pope Francis, a "loss for the Church" but also a loss for the Palestinians. "His empathy was given to everyone, to all who suffer. For the hostages in Gaza, for the children dying in Gaza under the bombs. Without choosing sides," insisted this 60-year-old Christian. "We so desperately need voices calling for a ceasefire and peace," added the man, who works in the tourism sector.

The Palestinians know that their supporters are few. Pope Francis used extremely strong words to condemn the war. In a message for Easter celebrations, read by one of his collaborators, he again denounced on Sunday the "dramatic and disgraceful humanitarian situation" in Gaza while warning against the "growing climate of anti-Semitism."

In December 2024, after an Israeli army bombing in Gaza that killed seven children from the same family, he expressed his emotion and anger: "Yesterday, children were bombed. This is cruelty, not war. I want to say it because it touches my heart." Symbolically, the pope had prayed in front of a Nativity scene where Christ lay on a black and white keffiyeh, the symbol of Palestinian resistance. The President of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, paid tribute to the pope: "Today we have lost a faithful friend of the Palestinian people and their legitimate rights."

You have 57.43% of this article left to read. The rest is for subscribers only.