Israel shares, then deletes, condolences over pope's death

The Israeli government shared and then deleted a social media post offering condolences over the death of Pope Francis, without saying why, though an Israeli newspaper linked the decision to the late pontiff's criticism of the war in Gaza. Francis, who died on Monday aged 88, suggested last November that the global community should study whether Israel's military campaign in Gaza constitutes a genocide of the Palestinian people, in some of his most explicit criticism yet of Israel's conduct in its war with Hamas that began in Oct. 2023. Francis in 2014 visited the Western Wall - the most sacred prayer site in Judaism - and also prayed at a section of a wall built by Israel in the occupied West Bank dividing Jerusalem and Bethlehem.