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POPE SPEAKS - Pope Leo XIV on Sunday called for "immediate halt to the barbarity of the war" on the Gaza Strip as Israel's military carried out fresh massacres of Palestinians seeking food aid.
The pontiff decried the Israeli military's recent deadly bombing of Gaza's sole Catholic Church and read aloud the names of the three victims—Saad Issa Kostandi Salameh, Foumia Issa Latif Ayyad, and Najwa Ibrahim Latif Abu Daoud.
But Pope Leo stressed that the attack was "just one of the continuous military attacks against the civilian population and places of worship in Gaza," whose religious sites have been decimated by more than a year of Israeli bombings.
The pope went on to demand a "peaceful resolution to the conflict" and implored the international community to respect "the prohibition against collective punishment, indiscriminate use of force, and forced displacement of the population."
Pope Leo's remarks came as the Israeli military issued expanded evacuation orders in central Gaza and killed more than 80 people across the enclave as they sought to obtain food aid amid an increasingly dire hunger crisis fueled by Israel's blockade.
The Associated Press reported that "at least 79 Palestinians were killed while trying to reach aid entering through the Zikim crossing with Israel."
"The U.N. World Food Program said 25 trucks with aid had entered for 'starving communities' when it encountered massive crowds that came under gunfire," the outlet continued. "Nafiz Al-Najjar, who was injured, said tanks and drones targeted people 'randomly' and he saw his cousin and others shot dead."
Meanwhile, the humanitarian group World Central Kitchen said in a statement Sunday that its teams in Gaza "have again run out of ingredients to cook warm meals" after serving 80,000 meals the previous day.
"Our field kitchens are prepped and ready to resume cooking the moment new supplies arrive. Every second counts. Families in Gaza rely on these hot meals," the group said. "This is the second time lack of access to aid has forced our kitchen operations to pause. Cooking halted for 12 weeks while aid was not permitted to enter Gaza. We were able to resume work one month ago. Since then, our kitchen teams have worked nonstop to serve tens of thousands of meals daily."
(This article was prepared by the Common Dreams Staff and first published at CommonDreams.org.)
