Rome, 9 April 2024 (dpa/MIA) - Pope Francis has received relatives of hostages abducted and taken to the Gaza Strip six months ago, when the Palestinian Islamist organization Hamas led the attack on Israel which triggered the war in Gaza.

The Vatican published photos on Monday showing the members of five families at a private audience in the Apostolic Palace in which they are they are holding photos and posters showing their kidnapped relatives.

The Times of Israel quoted one woman who was at the meeting as saying that the pope had described Hamas as "evil" and "was very clear that the hostages need to come home."

On Easter Sunday at the end of March, the pope issued an urgent appeal for an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and for an exchange of prisoners in the war in Ukraine.

He also called for a guaranteed delivery route for humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip, with much of the territory lying in ruins as fears of famine grow. The hostages kidnapped from Israel on 7 October by Hamas militants and other extremists in Gaza must also be released, he said.

The October 7 attackers killed some 1,200 people, taking more than 200 hostage. Of those kidnapped, 105 were released after almost two months as part of an agreement between Israel and Hamas. The fate of the remaining hostages is not publicly known. According to Israeli estimates, just under 100 of them are probably still alive.

Israel initially retaliated with an aerial onslaught before also launching a major ground offensive that swept from north to south. The Hamas-run Health Ministry puts the death toll in Gaza at over 33,000.

Israel has been heavily criticized internationally for the high number of casualties among the Palestinian civilian population and the lack of food supplies to the territory.

In November, Pope Francis met relatives of hostages from Israel and Palestinians from the Gaza Strip for the first time. The head of the Catholic Church received the two groups separately at the Vatican.

Photo: Vatican News