An Israeli center-left opposition party leader and former general sparked an outcry this week when he made rare criticism of the toll of the war on Palestinian civilians in Gaza.

Pope Leo XIV says the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, "the heartbreaking price of which is paid by children, the elderly, the sick," must end and food must be allowed in.

Israeli air strikes probably killed Hamas’s Gaza chief last week, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday, as he vowed that his ground offensive would continue until the country controlled all of the enclave. The Israeli air force targeted Mohammad Sinwar last week at the European Hospital in southern Gaza in a series of strikes.