Pope Leo XIV has condemned the “barbarity” of the war in Gaza and the “indiscriminate use of force” as at least 85 Palestinians have been killed queueing for food. The victims were killed in different locations, mostly in northern Gaza. 69 of the dead were killed by Israeli fire while waiting for UN aid trucks entering through the northern Zikim crossing with Israel. The UN World Food Programme (WFP) said that shortly after entering Gaza, a WFP convoy of 25 trucks carrying food aid encountered “massive crowds of hungry civilians” who then came under gunfire. The UN World Food Programme reiterated that any violence involving civilians seeking humanitarian aid is completely unacceptable.
Israel’s military said soldiers had shot at a gathering of thousands of Palestinians in northern Gaza who it claimed posed a threat. However, the numbers reported by officials in Gaza were far higher than its initial investigation found. There was new alarm as Israel’s military issued evacuation orders for areas of central Gaza, one of the few areas where it has rarely operated with ground troops and where many international organizations attempting to distribute aid are located.
The pope also spoke of his anguish over the Israeli strike on Gaza’s only Catholic church last week, which killed three people and injured 10. Israel has expressed “deep sorrow” and opened an investigation into the strike on the church, which was sheltering about 600 displaced people, most of them children and many with special needs.
