Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called Pope Leo on Friday, the Vatican said, a day after an Israeli strike on Gaza‘s sole Catholic church killed three people and injured several more.
During the call, the pope renewed his appeal for a ceasefire and an end to the war in Gaza, and expressed his concern over the “dramatic” humanitarian situation in the Palestinian enclave, a Vatican statement said.
Leo also stressed the urgent need to protect places of worship, the faithful, and all people in the Palestinian territories and Israel, the statement added.
Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the highest ranking Catholic official in Jerusalem, meanwhile entered Gaza on Friday to bring humanitarian aid and comfort to victims of Israel’s strike.
President Donald Trump called Netanyahu to address the strike, the White House said on Thursday, adding that Trump did not react positively to the incident.
“It was not a positive reaction. He called Prime Minister Netanyahu this morning to address the strikes on that church in Gaza,” the White House spokeswoman told reporters.
“And I understand the prime minister agreed to put out a statement. It was a mistake by the Israelis to hit that Catholic Church. That’s what the prime minister relayed to the president,” the White House spokeswoman added.
A State Department spokeswoman separately added: “I think its an understatement to say that he (Trump) was not happy.” The State Department said Washington asked Israel to probe the strike.
The Israeli military said it was looking into the incident. Israel’s Foreign Ministry said the results of the investigation would be published. Netanyahu said Israel “deeply regrets that a stray ammunition hit Gaza‘s Holy Family Church.”
Israeli forces killed at least 27 people in attacks in the Gaza Strip on Thursday, including the three killed in the church strike, according to medics and church officials.
The Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, which oversees the small parish, condemned “this targeting of innocent civilians and of a sacred place,” saying two women and one man were killed in the attack on the Holy Family Church.
In an interview with Italy’s Corriere della Sera daily, Pizzaballa said a Catholic presence would remain in Gaza “whatever happens,” and expressed doubts about Israel’s comments that the strike was a mistake.
“We are not a target. They say it was an error. Even if everybody here believes it wasn’t,” the cardinal said.
It is extremely rare for foreign officials to be allowed entry into Gaza, as Israel has essentially sealed its borders. Pizzaballa was accompanied by Theophilos III, the Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem.
The two religious leaders brought “hundreds of tons of food supplies as well as first aid kits and urgently needed medical equipment,” Pizzaballa’s Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem said in a statement.
The aid is meant not only for Gaza’s small Christian community but for “as many families as possible,” the Patriarchate said, adding it also ensured the evacuation of those injured in the church strike.
