Pope Francis’ final gift to Gaza
A popemobile will be transformed into a mobile health clinic for children in the Gaza Strip, fulfilling one of Pope Francis’ final wishes.
The vehicle, used by the late Pope during his 2014 visit to the Holy Land, is being outfitted with diagnostic and emergency medical equipment to help young patients in the Palestinian enclave, where health services have been devastated by the Israeli invasion.
UN children’s agency UNICEF says more than 9000 children have been admitted for treatment of acute malnutrition since the beginning of the year.
Pope Francis, who died last month, entrusted the mobile clinic venture to the Catholic aid organisation Caritas Jerusalem in the months before his death, Vatican News said.
“This is a concrete, life-saving intervention at a time when the health system in Gaza has almost completely collapsed,” said supporter Secretary General of Caritas Sweden, Peter Brune.
The mobile unit will be equipped with rapid infection tests, vaccines, diagnostic tools, and suture kits, and staffed by medical personnel.
Caritas plans to deploy the clinic to communities without access to functioning healthcare facilities once humanitarian access to Gaza is feasible.
“It’s not just a vehicle,” Brune added.
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“It’s a message that the world has not forgotten about the children in Gaza.”
The late Pope Francis requested that his popemobile be turned into a health clinic for the children of Gaza, as his legacy of peace continues to shine in our conflict-ridden world.https://t.co/I2XBnv6ynM
— Vatican News (@VaticanNews) May 4, 2025
Gaza has a tiny Christian community and the Vatican has said Francis used to call the Holy Family Church in Gaza on an almost daily basis for much of the war, which started in October 2023 when Hamas militants attacked southern Israel.
Pope Francis had a number of popemobiles, with the one used in the 2014 visit to Israel and the Palestinian Territories staying in the region following his return to the Vatican.
A conclave to elect a new Pope starts on May 7.
Israel calls up reservists
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is set to convene his security cabinet to discuss the expansion of the Gaza offensive and a possible resumption of aid into the besieged enclave, two government officials say.
In a video message posted on the social media platform X on Sunday, Netanyahu said he was convening the security cabinet to discuss “the next stage” of the war in Gaza.
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The development came hours after part of a missile launched from Yemen by the Iranian-backed Houthi militia fell close to Israel’s main gateway, Ben Gurion Airport.
It was unclear if the ministers would give final approval at the meeting, but the military has already begun issuing tens of thousands of call-up orders for its reserve forces, looking to expand the Gaza campaign, its chief said on Sunday.
“We are increasing the pressure with the goal of returning our people (hostages) and defeating Hamas,” Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir told troops, according to a statement from the army.
Already in control of almost a third of Gaza’s territory, Israel has faced growing international pressure to lift an aid blockade that it imposed in March after the collapse of a US-backed ceasefire that had halted fighting for two months.
Ministers have justified the blockade by saying that Hamas has seized aid intended for civilians and kept it for its fighters or sold it, charges that Hamas has denied.
The Humanitarian Country Team, a forum that includes UN agencies, said on Sunday that Israeli officials were seeking its consent to deliver aid through what it described as “Israeli hubs under conditions set by the Israeli military, once the government agrees to re-open crossings”.
In its statement, it said such a plan would be dangerous and would “contravene fundamental humanitarian principles and appears designed to reinforce control over life-sustaining items as a pressure tactic – as part of a military strategy”.
Israeli public broadcaster Kan reported last week that a new plan was in the works by which aid will soon be distributed by private foreign companies, rather than UN agencies, in a new designated humanitarian zone in the southern Gaza area of Rafah, to which civilians would be moved after security checks.
New aid plans will be discussed at Sunday’s security cabinet meeting, two officials said.
Aid has been a contested issue within the Israeli leadership and defence establishment for months.
The military has pushed back against calls by some politicians who want Israel to seize Gaza for good and have Israeli soldiers hand out aid.
Zamir, who took office in March, has stuck to the position of his predecessor and the former defence minister.
He told ministers last month that Israeli troops would not distribute aid and that he would not allow starvation in Gaza, angering hardliners, including Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who had hoped for a more aggressive approach.
Israel launched its campaign in Gaza in retaliation for the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023, that killed 1200 people, according to Israeli tallies, and saw 251 taken hostage into Gaza in the deadliest day for Israel in its history.
The campaign has killed more than 52,000 Palestinians, according to local health authorities and devastated the Gaza Strip, leaving its 2.3 million population dependent on aid supplies that have been dwindling rapidly since the blockade.
