Netanyahu held a call with Pope Leo XIV, where he expressed optimism about the hostage talks, while the Pope asked to keep sacred places safe from the war.

Top church leaders in the Holy Land headed into Gaza Friday for a rare solidarity visit one day after an Israeli shell slammed into the only Catholic church in the territory, killing three people.

Israel said Thursday that it “deeply regrets” a deadly strike on Gaza’s only Catholic church, which killed three people. The Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, which has jurisdiction for Latin-rite Catholics in Gaza,