The Vatican has said that Pope Francis has met the relatives of Israelis taken hostage by Hamas in the October 7 attacks, AFP reports.

Members of five Israeli families have had a private audience with the Argentine pontiff, 87, showing him posters of loved ones who were taken, including Ariel and Kfir Bibas, aged four and one respectively.

There were also the relatives of hostages Tamir Nimrodi, 19, Guy Gilboa Dalal, 22, Agam Berger, 19, and Omri Miran, 46.