Israelis demand PM steps down
Pope adds to calls for ceasefire and peace
JERUSLAEM: As Pope Francis urged the world to resist “the logic of weapons” and called for a ceasefire in Gaza in his Easter message, thousands of Israelis marched in the heart of the holy land demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over the war.
Demonstrators blocked a main highway in Jerusalem after earlier rallying in front of the Israeli parliament, lighting fires and waving Israeli flags.
Police used water cannon against them, pushing protesters back as they shouted Mr Netanyahu “must go” in the biggest protest since the war began on October 7.
Pressure has mounted on Mr Netanyahu as those opposed to his ring-wing government and hostages’ families have found a common cause.
Families of the hostages held in Gaza say they will take to the streets every night this week in a bid to “bring them home”.
Thousands also gathered in Tel Aviv, Israel’s largest city, while others picketed Mr Netanyahu’s Jerusalem home chanting slogans and calling for him to quit.
Christians celebrated a grim Easter in Gaza and Jerusalem on Sunday, with the tiny Catholic
community in the wartorn Palestinian territory holding their vigil service as fighting raged on outside.
Around 100 people gathered by candlelight at the Holy Family Church in Gaza City in the famine-threatened north to mark the resurrection.
The church is a short drive from Al-Shifa hospital where heavy combat has been raging for two weeks between Israeli troops and Hamas fighters. The atmosphere in Jerusalem was equally heavy, with few people at sacred sites that are usually crowded at Easter.
Even the main Catholic Easter Sunday service at the Holy Sepulchre Church – built on what is said be the tomb of Jesus – was not full.
At the Vatican on Sunday, easing growing health fears as he greeted thousands of Catholics, Pope Francis’s “Urbi et Orbi” (To the City and the World) blessing came after he led Easter Mass in front of 60,000 worshippers in Saint Peter’s Square while appearing in good spirits.
In his traditional speech broadcast worldwide, Francis, 87, condemned war as “always an absurdity and a defeat”, raising conflicts in Ukraine, Gaza, Sudan, Myanmar and beyond.
He renewed appeals for a ceasefire in Gaza, calling for greater aid deliveries to the devastated territory and the release of hostages taken by Hamas during its unprecedented October 7 attack on Israel that sparked the war.
The civilian population is “now at the limit of its endurance”, he said, lamenting the impact on children especially.
“Let us not allow the strengthening winds of war to blow on Europe and the Mediterranean. Let us not yield to the logic of weapons and rearming,” he added.
The Pope proposed a “general exchange of all prisoners between Russia and Ukraine” as the war grinds through its third year.
Moments before the blessing, Francis passed through the adoring crowd as pilgrims shouted “Long live the Pope!”.