Red Cross ICRC: Indiscriminate warfare is indefensible and incompatible with law... Deliberate threats, whether in rhetoric or in action, against essential civilian infrastructure and nuclear facilities must not become the new norm in warfare. Any war fought without limits is incompatible with the law. It is indefensible, inhumane and devastating for entire populations. Across the Middle East, our teams are seeing the destruction of infrastructure essential for civilian life. Power plants, water systems, hospitals, roads, bridges, homes, schools, and universities have come under fire. Most alarming are potential threats to nuclear facilities. Any miscalculation can cause irreversible consequences for generations to come.

Geneva (ICRC) - The following is a statement from ICRC President Mirjana Spoljaric on the hostilities in the Middle East. 

Deliberate threats, whether in rhetoric or in action, against essential civilian infrastructure and nuclear facilities must not become the new norm in warfare. 
 

Any war fought without limits is incompatible with the law. It is indefensible, inhumane and devastating for entire populations. 
 

Across the Middle East, our teams are seeing the destruction of infrastructure essential for civilian life. Power plants, water systems, hospitals, roads, bridges, homes, schools, and universities have come under fire.  

 

Most alarming are potential threats to nuclear facilities. Any miscalculation can cause irreversible consequences for generations to come. 
 

I urgently call on parties to spare civilians and civilian objects in all military operations. It is their obligation under international humanitarian law. 
 

States must respect and ensure respect for the rules of war in both what they say and what they do. The world cannot succumb to a political culture that prioritizes death over life. 

 

International Committee of the Red Cross

 
 https://www.icrc.org/en/news-release/middle-east-indiscriminate-warfare-indefensible-and-incompatible-law

 

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"THIS IS NOT AN ABSTRACT THOUGHT. We are standing in the place where the stone was rolled away, yet we know all too well that many stones remain sealed around us. Too many tombs have been dug again by hatred, violence, and retaliation. In this Holy Land, which is the mother of faith and has also become a land of constant conflict, the question resounds with dramatic force: “Where have you laid him?” For it seems that we place the Lord back in a tomb every time we believe that death has the final word over history, every time we resign ourselves to the logic of the enemy, every time we call an armed truce “peace” and the calculation of damage “justice.” CARDINAL PIZZABALLA AT THE HOLY SEPULCHRE ON EASTER SUNDAY

CARDINAL PIZZABALLA AT THE HOLY SEPULCHRE ON EASTER SUNDAY

Catholic Arena

@CatholicArena

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18h

 

CARDINAL PIZZABALLA AT THE HOLY SEPULCHRE ON EASTER SUNDAY: 

 

 'No people, no language, no history is excluded from this hope. If death has been conquered, then no life is “too lost” to be sought. 

 

Easter is universal because it is born in a specific, concrete, real place—here—and for this very reason it can truly reach the whole world.  

 

This is not an abstract thought. We are standing in the place where the stone was rolled away, yet we know all too well that many stones remain sealed around us. Too many tombs have been dug again by hatred, violence, and retaliation. In this Holy Land, which is the mother of faith and has also become a land of constant conflict, the question resounds with dramatic force: “Where have you laid him?” For it seems that we place the Lord back in a tomb every time we believe that death has the final word over history, every time we resign ourselves to the logic of the enemy, every time we call an armed truce “peace” and the calculation of damage “justice.”  

 

But Easter tells us this: the Risen One is not confined within our strategies for survival. He is a prisoner neither of our reasoning nor of our fears. He has already gone forth, and he goes before us'

 https://x.com/CatholicArena/status/2040840250269040876

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350 Palestinian children are in Israeli prisons on Palestinian Children’s Day, amid escalating, systematic, and direct arrest campaigns targeting them.

Palestinian Center for Prisoners Advocacy

@PalPrisonersA

 

 350 Palestinian children are in Israeli prisons on Palestinian Children’s Day, amid escalating, systematic, and direct arrest campaigns targeting them.  

 

The targeting of Palestinian children has become a fixed policy, including pursuit, night arrests, and forceful detention across various areas.  

 

Detained children face harsh interrogation practices, including isolation, threats, and deprivation of access to a lawyer or family members during the initial stages of questioning.  

 

Children inside prisons are subjected to abuse, beatings, medical neglect, and harsh detention conditions without consideration for their age. 

 

https://x.com/PalPrisonersA/status/2040845038662414591 

 

Full statement: https://palprisoners.ps/?p=1956&lang=en

 

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On Palestinian Children’s Day, the Palestinian Center for Prisoners Advocacy documents the presence of approximately 350 Palestinian children in Israeli prisons, amid ongoing arrest campaigns that increasingly and directly target children across various Palestinian areas.

The targeting of children and the continued arrests are no longer linked to exceptional circumstances; rather, they have become part of a clear on-the-ground policy by Israeli forces. This includes pursuit, night arrests, live fire, and field detention, leading to their transfer to interrogation centers, within a context that affects an age group that is supposed to be protected under international law.

The arrest of these children is carried out through violent raids, accompanied by physical assault and intimidation, before they are subjected to interrogation. During this process, they are exposed to harsh pressure methods, including prolonged interrogation, isolation, threats, and deprivation of the presence of a lawyer or a family member during the initial stages of questioning.

Children in prisons are also subjected to abuse and ill-treatment, including beatings, medical neglect, and detention in conditions unsuitable for their age, in an environment lacking basic needs specific to children.

Over previous years, cases have also been documented in which child prisoners were subjected to moral and security coercion during interrogation, through blackmail and psychological pressure, aimed at extracting confessions or coercing them into cooperating with Israeli security services.

These practices constitute a clear violation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989), which stipulates the protection of children from arbitrary arrest and guarantees their treatment in a manner consistent with their age and dignity, while prohibiting torture or cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment.

They also contradict Article 37 of the Convention, which states that the detention of children should be used only as a last resort and for the shortest possible time, as well as Article 40, which guarantees a child’s right to a fair trial and juvenile justice standards.

In addition, these violations contravene the provisions of the Geneva Conventions, which require special protection for children in conflict zones.

What is happening to child prisoners comes within an ongoing policy targeting children through arrest and treatment inside prisons, which necessitates urgent and genuine international action to secure their release and to stop the policies and violations carried out by the Israeli occupation against them.

Palestinian Center for Prisoners Advocacy
Sunday, April 5, 2026

Pope Leo urged "those who have the power to unleash wars" to chose peace. This should not be a peace “imposed by force”, he stressed, but one achieved through dialogue – “not with the desire to dominate others, but to encounter them”.

Pope Leo processes into St Peter's Basilica   (@Vatican Media)

https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2026-04/pope-leo-easter-vigil-hatred-mighty-sin-resurrection.html

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Pope: Easter drives out hatred and brings down the mighty

At the Easter Vigil Mass in the Vatican, Pope Leo says that “God responds to the hardness of sin – which divides and kills – with the power of love, which unites and restores life”... 

War, injustice, and isolation

In the final portion of his homily, Pope Leo reflected on the “tombs still to be opened today”, such as “mistrust, fear, selfishness, and resentment”, as well as “war, injustice, and the isolation of peoples and nations”.

The Pope exhorted his listeners to not allow themselves to be “paralysed” in the face of such challenges.

Instead, he said, we should imitate the “commitment” of the saints who have gone before us, so that “the Easter gifts of harmony and peace might grow and flourish everywhere and always throughout the world”... 

Flowers in St Peter's Square during the Urbi et Orbi blessing   (@Vatican Media)

Urbi et Orbi: Pope urges world leaders to lay down weapons

On Easter Sunday, Pope Leo appeals to world leaders to choose “not to dominate others, but to encounter them”. He also announces that he will lead a prayer vigil for peace next Saturday, April 11th, in Saint Peter’s Basilica. 

By Joseph Tulloch

Pope Leo XIV has called on world leaders to lay down their weapons and choose “encounter” over domination.

“Let those who have weapons lay them down!”, the Pope urged on Easter Sunday in his traditional Urbi et Orbi (‘To the City and the World’) message.

Speaking to the tens of thousands of pilgrims gathered in St Peter's Square, Pope Leo urged "those who have the power to unleash wars" to chose peace. 

This should not be a peace “imposed by force”, he stressed, but one achieved through dialogue – “not with the desire to dominate others, but to encounter them”.

READ THE FULL TEXT OF THE URBI ET ORBI MESSAGE

The 'globalisation of indifference'

Pope Leo warned that the world is “growing accustomed to violence”.

We are “becoming indifferent”, he said, not only to the deaths of thousands of people, but to the “hatred and division” war causes, as well as its “economic and social consequences”.

Borrowing a phrase from the late Pope Francis, Pope Leo warned of the “ever-increasing ‘globalisation of indifference’”.

“We cannot continue to be indifferent!”, he urged. “We cannot resign ourselves to evil!”.

For this reason, he said, he would be leading a prayer vigil for peace next Saturday, April 11th, in St Peter’s Basilica.

Nonviolence and 'true strength'

At Easter, the Pope said, Jesus won victory over death, and thereby “defeated once and for all the ancient adversary, the prince of this world”.

However, Pope Leo stressed, the power with which Christ won this victory is “entirely nonviolent”, based on a love which “creates and generates”, “forgives and redeems”.

This spirit of love and forgiveness, he said, is the “true strength” that establishes peace, and fosters relationships amongst individuals and societies.

Inner peace

Bringing his Urbi et Orbi message to a close, the Pope stressed that Easter peace is not merely “the silence of weapons” but also an inner peace which “touches and transforms the heart of each one of us”.

“Let us allow ourselves to be transformed by the peace of Christ”, Pope Leo urged, entrusting to the Lord "all hearts that suffer and await the true peace that only he can give.”

 https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2026-04/pope-leo-urbi-et-orbi-easter-2026-peace-weapons-war-dialogue.html

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