Jerusalem Catholic Patriarch Offers To Be Swapped For Gaza Captives

Pope Francis' representative in the Holy Land expressed his willingness to exchange himself for Israeli children taken hostage by Hamas and held in Gaza, as reported by Philip Pullella for Reuters.

Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Patriarch of Jerusalem, made this statement in response to a question during a video conference with journalists in Italy, stating, "I am ready for an exchange, anything, if this can lead to freedom and bring the children home." I Photo: Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales

Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Patriarch of Jerusalem, made this statement in response to a question during a video conference with journalists in Italy. He said, "I am ready for an exchange, anything, if this can lead to freedom and bring the children home.

There is total willingness on my part." He further stated, "The first thing to do is to try to secure the release of the hostages; otherwise, there will be no way of preventing an escalation. We are willing to help, even me personally."

However, he stressed that he and his office had not yet had any direct contact with Hamas, the militant Islamist group that attacked Israel on October 7, resulting in the death of 1,300 people.

Approximately 200 people were taken hostage, and about a dozen of them are believed to be children.

Pizzaballa oversees Roman Catholic activities in Israel and the Palestinian territories, as well as Jordan and Cyprus, a region home to an estimated 300,000 Roman Catholics.

Authorities in Gaza reported that at least 2,750 people had been killed by Israeli strikes, a quarter of them children, with nearly 10,000 wounded. Another 1,000 people were missing and believed to be under the rubble.

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