Pope Leo XIV urges Israel to facilitate Gaza aid Calls for ceasefire, hostage release

Pope Leo XIV has made a direct appeal to Israel to allow the urgent delivery of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip, warning of the increasingly dire conditions facing civilians in the war-torn enclave.

In one of his first major public interventions since assuming the papacy, Pope Leo described the humanitarian situation in Gaza as “disturbing and saddening,” highlighting the toll on “children, the elderly and the sick,” Caliber.Az reports via Israeli media. 

He called for immediate action to ease the suffering of the civilian population.

“I urge the facilitation of aid deliveries and an end to the atrocities—the heavy price being paid by children, the elderly and the sick,” the Pope said in a statement issued from the Vatican.

The pontiff also reiterated his call for a ceasefire in Gaza and the release of all hostages, stressing the need for dialogue and a peaceful resolution to the conflict.

By Aghakazim Guliyev