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The Latin patriarch of Jerusalem, Archbishop Pierbattista Pizzaballa, on Tuesday hailed Pope Francis’s support for Gazans and engagement with the small Catholic community in the war-battered Palestinian territory.The Catholic church’s highest authority in the region, who is considered a potential successor to the late pontiff, Pizzaballa told journalists in Jerusalem that “Gaza represents, a little bit, all what was the heart of his pontificate”.Pope Francis, who died on Monday aged 88, advocated peace and “closeness to the poor… and to the neglected one”, said the patriarch.These positions became particularly evident in Francis’s response to the Israel-Hamas war which broke out in October 2023, Pizzaballa said.”He was very close to the community of Gaza, the parish of Gaza, he kept calling them many times — for a certain period, also every day, every evening at 7 pm,” said the patriarch.He added that by doing so, the pope “became for the community something stable, and also comforting for them, and he knew this”.Out of the Gaza Strip’s 2.4 million people, about 1,000 are Christians. Most of them are Orthodox, but according to the Latin Patriarchate, there are about 135 Catholics in the territory.Since the early days of the war, members of the Catholic community have been sheltering at Holy Family Church compound in Gaza City, and some Orthodox Christians have also found refuge there.Pope Francis repeatedly called for an end to the war. The day before his death, in a final Easter message delivered on Sunday, he condemned the “deplorable humanitarian situation” in the besieged territory.”Work for justice… but without becoming part of the conflict,” said Pizzaballa of the late pontiff’s actions.”For us, for the Church, it leaves an important legacy.”The patriarch thanked the numerous Palestinian and Israeli public figures who have offered their condolences, preferring not to comment on the lack of any official message from Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.Even as “the local authorities… were not always happy” with the pope’s positions or statements, they were “always very respectful”, he said.Pizzaballa said he will travel to Rome on Wednesday, after leading a requiem mass for the pope at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem in the morning.As one of the 135 cardinal electors, the Latin patriarch will participate in the conclave to elect a new pope.Pizzaballa, a 60-year-old Italian Franciscan who also speaks English and Hebrew, arrived in Jerusalem in 1990 and was made a cardinal in September 2023, just before the Gaza war began.His visits to Gaza and appeals for peace since then have attracted international attention.

The IMF said Tuesday it now believed China’s economy will only grow by four percent this year, well below Beijing’s official target as it fights a mounting trade war with the United States that threatens to hammer the global economy.China and the United States — the world’s two largest economies — are engaged in a …

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A leader from Hamas-aligned Jamaa Islamiya was killed Tuesday in an Israeli strike, the Lebanese Islamist group and Israel’s military said, as the health ministry reported another dead in a separate raid.Israel has continued to carry out regular strikes on Lebanon despite a November truce with militant group Hezbollah that sought to halt more than a year of hostilities between the foes including two months of all-out war.Lebanon’s civil defence said “an Israeli drone targeted a car” near the coastal town of Damour, about 20 kilometres (12 miles) south of Beirut, and rescuers recovered a man’s body.Jamaa Islamiya in a statement announced the death of Hussein Atwi, calling him “an academic leader and university professor” and saying an Israeli drone strike “targeted his car as he was travelling to his workplace in Beirut”.The Israeli army said the air force had “eliminated” Atwi, calling him “a significant terrorist in the Jamaa Islamiya terrorist organisation”.A Lebanese security official, who spoke to AFP on condition of anonymity, said Atwi was a leader of Jamaa Islamiya’s armed wing, the Al-Fajr Forces.The official said Israel had previously targeted Atwi during its recent war with Hezbollah.An AFP photographer saw the charred wreckage of a car at the scene. The Lebanese army had cordoned off the area and forensic teams were conducting an inspection.Jamaa Islamiya, closely linked to both Palestinian militant group Hamas and Lebanon’s Hezbollah, claimed responsibility for multiple attacks against Israel before the November 27 ceasefire.The Israeli military said Atwi had been “involved in planning and advancing terrorist activity from Lebanon into Israeli territory” and had operated “in coordination with Hamas in Lebanon”.It said he had “carried out rocket attacks, coordinated terrorist infrastructure… and advanced attempts to infiltrate into Israeli territory”.Also Tuesday, Lebanon’s health ministry said an “Israeli enemy” strike in south Lebanon’s Tyre district killed one person.Under the truce, Hezbollah was to pull its fighters north of Lebanon’s Litani River and dismantle any remaining military infrastructure in the south.Israel was to withdraw all its forces from south Lebanon, but troops remain in five positions that it deems “strategic”.Israel on Sunday said it had killed two senior Hezbollah members in strikes on Lebanon.Lebanese authorities have said Israeli fire has killed some 190 people since the ceasefire.After unclaimed rocket fire against Israel in late March, Lebanon’s army said last week it had arrested several Lebanese and Palestinian suspects, while a security official said they included three Hamas members.