Israel strictly controls access to the territory, where the civil defence agency on Friday reported that further Israeli strikes killed at least 25 Palestinians, including a family of five in their own home.
Local people used their bare hands to pick through the debris in the southern city of Khan Younis in a desperate search for survivors.
“Entire families are buried under the rubble,” Louai Abu Sahloul, a relative of the victims, told AFP, adding that the relentless wave of strikes was taking its toll.
“People are like walking dead, tired of hunger, pain and destruction everywhere in Gaza,” he said.
Asked about the strike, the Israeli military told AFP it “struck a terror infrastructure site belonging to Hamas in the Khan Younis area” and had taken steps to mitigate the risk to civilians.
“STOP THE NEEDLESS SLAUGHTER”
The Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem and the Jerusalem Patriarchate said aid agencies helped facilitate the visit, which also involved the delivery of food supplies and emergency medical equipment.
Pope Leo XIV, the leader of the Catholic Church, said he was “deeply saddened” by Thursday’s strike on the church, where hundreds of displaced people were sheltering, including children and those with special needs.
His predecessor, Pope Francis, kept in regular contact with parish priest Father Gabriel Romanelli and repeatedly called for an end to the Gaza war.
Romanelli was one of 10 people injured and was seen with bandages on his leg.
