Gaza:

In addition to calling for Jerusalem to have a special status, Pope Francis stated on Wednesday that a two-state solution between Israel and Palestine was necessary to end conflicts like the one that is currently raging.

During a televised interview on Italy's RAI, the Holy Father said he hoped a regional escalation could be avoided in the conflict that began when Hamas militants entered Israel, killing some 1,400 Israelis, mainly civilians, and taking about 230 hostages.

In 1993, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and the chairperson of the Palestine Liberation Organization Yasser Arafat joined hands on the Oslo Accords, which established limited Palestinian autonomy.

At the 2000 Camp David conference, US President Bill Clinton, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, and Arafat participated, but no definitive peace agreement was reached.

Arab East Jerusalem was taken over by Israel in 1967, and the entire city was proclaimed its united and eternal capital in 1980. The city, which is holy to Jews, Muslims, and Christians, has never been granted a special or international status; Israel has continuously rejected such ideas.

Pope Francis remarked, "I'm scared because of the war in the Holy Land." 

"How will these people end this story?"

An escalation would lead to "the end of so many things and so many lives," he warned.

Pope Francis, who has demanded a ceasefire and humanitarian corridors to aid Gazans, said he interacts with priests and nuns daily over the phone at a church in Gaza that was providing sanctuary to roughly 560 people, the majority of whom were Christians but there were also some Muslims.

"For now, thank God, Israeli forces are respecting that parish," he said. The Holy Father expressed concern over the rise in anti-semitism and said a large part of antisemitism remains hidden.

He said people shouldn't let the conflict between Israel and Hamas overshadow other ongoing wars, such as those in Yemen, Myanmar, Ukraine, and Syria.