GAZA CITY
A senior official in the Gaza Strip government has called on Pope Francis to visit the besieged enclave before concluding his current Middle East tour.
"We invite the Pope to visit Gaza so he could see for himself the suffering of the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip under the unjust siege," Bassem Naeem, the foreign relations advisor to Gaza Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, said in a statement on Sunday.
The Gaza Strip, home to over 1.8 million Palestinians, has groaned under an Israeli blockade imposed since 2006, depriving the coastal enclave's residents of their most basic needs.
A massive Egyptian crackdown on cross-border tunnels, Gaza's main supply line for commodities smuggled from Egypt, has made life more difficult for the people of Gaza.
Currently on his first Middle East visit since his anointment in 2013, Pope Francis visited Jordan on Saturday.
He flew to the central West Bank city of Bethlehem earlier on Sunday morning.
The pontiff has already met with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and presided over a mass in the Church of Nativity.
He is expected to visit Israel later on Sunday.
Pope Francis will visit Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Al-Quds (occupied East Jerusalem) on Monday.
By Ola Attalah
http://www.aa.com.tr/en
