Pope Francis met with relatives of several Israelis held hostage by Hamas. During a private audience with Francis on Monday morning, members of five Israeli families showed the pope photos of kidnapped loved ones.
The Argentine pontiff, aged 87, had already received a group of relatives of Israeli hostages at the Vatican in November and met Palestinians with family in Gaza the same day. The families of the Israeli hostages are in Italy as part of a delegation also including Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz. The war was launched on October 7, when Hamas commandos infiltrated from the Gaza Strip carried out an unprecedented attack in southern Israel.