As cease-fire talks stalled, a deadly strike on a Catholic church in Gaza City prompted Pope Leo XIV to call for an immediate end to the fighting.

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — An Israeli shell slammed into the compound of the only Catholic church in the Gaza Strip on Thursday, killing three people and wounding 10 others, including the parish priest, according to church officials. The late Pope Francis, who died in April, had regularly spoken to the priest about the war’s toll on civilians.

An Israeli strike hit the only Catholic church in the Gaza Strip on Thursday, killing three people, injuring 10 others, and causing extensive damage to the religious complex.