Pope Leo XIV is welcomed by Lebanese President Joseph Aoun and officials upon arrival at Rafic Hariri International Airport, during his first apostolic journey, in Beirut, Lebanon, November 30, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mohammed Yassin

Pope Leo said on Sunday that the only solution in the decades-long conflict between Israel and the Palestinian people must include a Palestinian state, reaffirming the Vatican’s position.

“We all know that at this time Israel still does not accept that solution, but we see it as the only solution,” Leo, the first US pope, told journalists on a flight from Turkey to Lebanon during his first in-flight press conference.

“We are also friends with Israel and we are seeking to be a mediating voice between the two parties that might help them close in on a solution with justice for everyone,” added the pope, speaking in Italian.

Israel‘s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has reaffirmed opposition to a Palestinian state after even its biggest ally the US indicated support for Palestinian independence.

Leo spoke in a brief eight-minute press conference focused on his visit to Turkey, which he visited from Thursday to Sunday on his first overseas trip since election in May as leader of the 1.4 billion-member Catholic Church.

The pope said he and Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan discussed both the Israel-Palestinian and Ukraine-Russia conflicts. Turkey has an important role to play helping end both wars, Leo said.

During his visit to Turkey, the pope warned that humanity’s future was at risk because of the world’s unusual number of bloody conflicts and condemned violence in the name of religion.

CRITICAL OF ISRAELI MILITARY IN GAZA

Leo, who usually prefers using careful, diplomatic language, ramped up criticism earlier this year of Israel‘s military campaign in Gaza.

Turkey is predominantly Muslim but is also home to Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, spiritual leader of the world’s 260 million Orthodox Christians.

Leo praised Turkey as an example of religious co-existence.

“People of different religions are able to live in peace,” said the pope. “That is one example of what I think we all would be looking for throughout the world.”

Leo is visiting Lebanon until Tuesday, when he returns to Rome.

Egypt’s Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty attends a joint press conference with Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa in Cairo, Egypt March 1, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mohamed Abd El Ghany

i24 News – Cairo has launched a major initiative to train Palestinian police officers who are expected to join a future security force in Gaza once the ongoing conflict concludes.

The program was first announced last summer by Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty during a meeting with Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa.

The training began with an initial cohort of more than 500 officers in March, and resumed in September with new groups. The program aims to prepare a total of 5,000 police officers, all from Gaza, with funding provided by the Palestinian Authority.

“We aspire to a definitive end to the fighting and hope to serve our homeland and fellow citizens,” said a 26-year-old trainee, expressing satisfaction with the program. He added that the goal is to establish a security force “autonomous, loyal only to Palestine, and free from external influence.”

An anonymous Palestinian lieutenant, who left Gaza with his family in 2024, described the program as offering “high-level operational training, with modern equipment for border control.” The curriculum also covers the aftermath of the October 7, 2023 Hamas offensive and its implications for the Palestinian cause.

The training emphasizes the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) as the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people and reinforces the aim of building an independent Palestinian state.

A senior Palestinian Authority official confirmed that President Mahmoud Abbas instructed Interior Minister Ziad Hab al-Reeh to coordinate with Egypt in establishing these security units for Gaza.

As part of broader reconciliation efforts, Palestinian factions—including Hamas and Fatah, agreed in late 2024 under Egyptian mediation to create a 10,000-strong police force. Half of the officers will be trained by Egypt, and the other half drawn from Gaza’s police ranks, which have been under Hamas control since 2007.

The force is planned to operate under a technocratic committee approved by all Palestinian movements, tasked with administering Gaza post-conflict. A Hamas official told AFP that the organization supports the security and governance arrangements agreed upon during the talks.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks at the plenum of the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, in Jerusalem, November 10, 2025. REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asked the country’s president on Sunday for a pardon in his long-running corruption trial, arguing that criminal proceedings were hindering his ability to govern and a pardon would be good for Israel.

Netanyahu, the country’s longest-serving prime minister, denies the bribery, fraud, and breach of trust charges. His lawyers said in a letter to the president’s office that the prime minister still believes the legal proceedings would result in a complete acquittal.

“My lawyers sent a request for pardon to the president of the country today. I expect that anyone who wishes for the good of the country support this step,” Netanyahu said in a brief video statement released by his political party, the Likud.

Neither the prime minister, who has been on trial for five years, nor his lawyers made any admission of guilt.

Opposition leader Yair Lapid said Netanyahu should not be pardoned without admitting guilt, expressing remorse, and immediately retiring from political life.

Pardons in Israel have typically been granted only after legal proceedings have concluded and the accused has been convicted. Netanyahu’s lawyers argued that the president can intervene when public interest is at stake, as in this case, with a view to healing divisions and strengthening national unity.

President Isaac Herzog’s office described the request as “extraordinary” with “significant implications.” The president “will responsibly and sincerely consider the request” after receiving relevant opinions, his office said.

US President Donald Trump wrote to Herzog this month, urging him to consider granting the prime minister a pardon, saying the case against him was “a political, unjustified prosecution.”

Herzog’s office said the request would be forwarded to the pardons department in the justice ministry, as is standard practice, to collect opinions, which would be submitted to the president’s legal adviser, who will formulate a recommendation for the president.

Israel’s Justice Minister, Yariv Levin, is a member of Netanyahu’s Likud party and a close ally of the prime minister.

In the letter, Netanyahu’s lawyers argued that criminal proceedings against him had deepened societal divisions and that ending the trial was necessary for national reconciliation. They also wrote that increasingly frequent court hearings were burdensome while the prime minister was attempting to govern.

“I am required to testify three times a week … That is an impossible demand that is not made of any other citizen,” Netanyahu said in the video statement, emphasizing that he had received the public’s trust by repeatedly winning elections.

Netanyahu was indicted in 2019 in three separate but related cases that center around accusations that he granted favors to prominent business figures in exchange for gifts and sympathetic media coverage.

The prime minister has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.

Coalition allies issued statements supporting Netanyahu’s request for a pardon, including National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich.

Opposition politician Yair Golan, a former deputy chief of the military, called on the prime minister to resign, urging the president not to grant a pardon.

Netanyahu is one of the country’s most polarizing political figures, who was first elected prime minister in 1996. He has since served in government and opposition and returned to the prime minister’s office following the 2022 election.

The next election is due by October 2026, and many polls indicate that his coalition, the most right-wing in Israel’s history, would struggle to win enough seats to form a government.

Throughout his career, Netanyahu has cultivated a reputation for prioritizing security and economic issues, but he has also been dogged by the corruption charges. He was prime minister on October 7, 2023, when Hamas launched its attack on Israel, widely regarded as the most traumatic event in the country’s history and the deadliest assault on Jews since the Holocaust.

Since then, he has overseen the devastating war in Gaza, which has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians and leveled much of the territory, drawing broad international criticism and condemnation. Israel has severely weakened Hamas and also Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah and this year launched a war against Iran that destroyed critical military infrastructure.