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. Pope Francis, who died in April, had regularly spoken to the priest about the war’s toll on civilians.

The shelling of the Holy Family Catholic Church in Gaza also damaged the church compound, where hundreds of Palestinians have been sheltering from the 21-month Israel-Hamas war. Israel expressed regret over what it described as an accident and said it was investigating.

Pope Leo XIV on Thursday renewed his call for an immediate ceasefire in response to the attack.

In a telegram of condolences for the victims, Leo expressed “his profound hope for dialogue, reconciliation and enduring peace in the region.” The pope said he was “deeply saddened to learn of the loss of life and injury caused by the military attack,” and expressed his closeness to the wounded priest, Rev. Gabriel Romanelli, and the entire parish.

President Donald Trump called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to express his frustration over the strike on the church, the White House said. Netanyahu later released a statement saying Israel “deeply regrets that a stray ammunition hit Gaza’s Holy Family Church.”

The church compound was sheltering both Christians and Muslims, including a number of children with disabilities, according to Fadel Naem, acting director of Al-Ahli Hospital, which received the casualties.

The Catholic charity Caritas Jerusalem said the parish’s 60-year-old janitor and an 84-year-old woman receiving psychosocial support inside a Caritas tent in the church compound were killed in the attack. Parish priest Romanelli was lightly wounded.

“We were struck in the church while all the people there were elders, innocent people and children,” said Shady Abu Dawood, whose mother was wounded by shrapnel to her head. “We love peace and call for it, and this is a brutal, unjustified action by the Israeli occupation.”

The Israeli military said it was investigating. It said it “makes every feasible effort to mitigate harm to civilians and civilian structures, including religious sites, and regrets any damage caused to them.”

Israel has repeatedly struck schools, shelters, hospitals and other civilian buildings, accusing Hamas militants of sheltering inside and blaming them for civilian deaths. Palestinians say nowhere has felt safe since Israel launched its offensive in response to Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack.

Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni blamed Israel for the strike on the church. “The attacks on the civilian population that Israel has been demonstrating for months are unacceptable,” she said.

The church is just a stone’s throw from Al-Ahli Hospital, Naem said, noting that the area around both the church and the hospital has been repeatedly struck for over a week.

The Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem, which also has a church in Gaza that previously sustained damage from Israeli strikes, said the Holy Family Church was sheltering 600 displaced people, including many children, and 54 people with disabilities. It said the building suffered significant damage.

Targeting a holy site “is a blatant affront to human dignity and a grave violation of the sanctity of life and the inviolability of religious sites, which are meant to serve as safe havens during times of war,” the Church said in a statement.

Separately, another person was killed and 17 wounded Thursday in a strike against two schools sheltering displaced people in the Al-Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza, according to Al-Awda Hospital. The Israeli military did not immediately comment on the strike.

The Gaza Health Ministry said that over the past 24 hours, local hospitals received the bodies of 94 people killed in Israeli strikes and 367 wounded.

In the last 18 months of his life, Francis would often call the lone Catholic church in the Gaza Strip to see how people huddled inside were coping with the devastating war.