Pope Leo XIV on Sunday called for an end to the “pandemic of arms, large and small,” as he prayed publicly for the victims of a shooting during a Catholic school Mass in the United States.

History’s first U.S. pope spoke in English as he denounced the attack and the “logic of weapons” fueling wars around the world, during his Sunday noon blessing from his studio overlooking St. Peter’s Square.

“Our prayers for the victims of the tragic shooting during a school Mass in the American state of Minnesota,” said the Chicago-born Leo. “We hold in our prayers the countless children killed and injured every day around the world. Let us plead God to stop the pandemic of arms, large and small, which infects our world.”

Two children were killed Wednesday and 20 people were injured during the shooting attack at the Church of Annunciation in Minneapolis, as hundreds of students from the nearby Annunciation Catholic School and others gathered for a Mass.

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The shooter fired 116 rifle rounds through the church’s stained-glass windows, and later died by suicide.

The attack once again reignited the debate over guns in America. Those who support stricter background checks on gun purchases and other laws, often Democrats, say that Republican politicians who appeal to “thoughts and prayers” after school shootings are trying to distract from their own inaction on gun restrictions.

In the immediate aftermath of the shooting, Leo had refrained from any political commentary about guns in America, sending a telegram of condolence that focused exclusively on the spiritual.

He said he was saddened by the “terrible tragedy” and sent his “heartfelt condolences and the assurance of spiritual closeness to all those affected.”

Leo’s predecessor, Pope Francis, had long railed against the weapons industry and proliferation of arms fueling wars, denouncing gun manufacturers as “merchants of death.”

During his historic 2015 speech to the U.S. Congress, the Argentine pope asked the lawmakers why weapons were being sold purely to kill.

“Sadly, the answer, as we all know, is simply for money: money that is drenched in blood, often innocent blood,” Francis said then. “In the face of this shameful and culpable silence, it is our duty to confront the problem and to stop the arms trade.”

Leo had opened his appeal Sunday by demanding an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine and a “serious commitment to dialogue” from the warring sides.

“It’s time that those responsible renounce the logic of weapons and take the path of negotiations and peace, with the support of the international community,” he said. “The voice of weapons must be silenced, while the voice of fraternity and justice must rise.”

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Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz announced Sunday that a spokesperson for Hamas’ armed wing, Abu Obeida, was killed in Gaza over the weekend.

Obeida’s last statement was on Friday as Israel began the initial stages of a new military offensive in Gaza City, declaring the area a combat zone. Hamas has not commented on Israel’s claim.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu earlier said Israel had attacked Obeida, the longtime spokesperson for Hamas’ Qassam Brigades, but did not know whether he had been killed.

“I do notice there is no one addressing this question on the Hamas side,” Netanyahu told ministers at a weekly cabinet meeting.

Obeida is the latest Hamas representative targeted and killed by Israel as it attempts to dismantle the group’s military capacity and prevent an attack like Oct. 7, 2023, when militants abducted 251 people and killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians.

Israel has assassinated many of Hamas’ top military and political leadership.

A ‘death trap’

At least 43 Palestinians were killed since Saturday, most of them in Gaza City, according to local hospitals. Shifa Hospital — the territory’s largest — said 29 bodies had been brought to its morgue, including 10 people killed while seeking aid and others struck across the city.

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On Sunday morning, hospital officials reported 11 more fatalities from strikes and gunfire. Al-Awda Hospital said seven of them were civilians trying to reach aid.

Witnesses said Israeli troops opened fire on crowds in the Netzarim Corridor, an Israeli military zone that bisects Gaza.

“We were trying to get food, but we were met with the occupation’s bullets,” said Ragheb Abu Lebda, from Nuseirat, who saw at least three people bleeding from gunshot wounds. “It’s a death trap.”

The corridor has become increasingly perilous, with civilians killed while approaching U.N. convoys overwhelmed by looters and desperate crowds, or shot on their way to sites run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, an Israeli-backed U.S. contractor. Neither the foundation nor the Israeli military responded to questions about Sunday’s casualties.

Malnutrition and displacement

Israel has for weeks been operating on the outskirts of Gaza City as well as the Jabaliya refugee camp to prepare for the initial stages of its offensive, which it announced on Friday. Its military has since intensified its air attacks in coastal areas of the city, including Rimal.

Its Arabic-language army spokersperson has urged the hundreds of thousands of Palestinians still in Gaza City to flee south, but only tens of thousands have done so. Many say they are too exhausted after repeated displacements or unconvinced that anywhere is safer.

The United Nations says roughly 65,000 Palestinians have fled their homes since Aug. 1, including 23,199 in the past week. Many are living in temporary shelters after multiple displacements. More than 90 percent of the 2.1 million Palestinians in Gaza have been displaced at least once during the war, and many multiple times, according to the U.N.

Israel has announced new infrastructure projects in southern Gaza and signaled that aid to Gaza City could be cut — steps Palestinians say amount to forced displacement.

Israel has for weeks been operating on the outskirts of Gaza City as well as the Jabaliya refugee camp. It also intensified its air attacks in the coastal areas of the city.

Seven Palestinian adults died of causes related to malnutrition and starvation in the Gaza Strip over the last 24 hours, the territory’s health ministry reported Sunday.

That has brought the death toll from malnutrition-related causes to 215 since late June when the ministry started to count fatalities among this age category, it said.

Another 124 children died of malnutrition-related causes since the start of the war in October 2023, the ministry said.

At least 63,371 Palestinians have died in Gaza during the war, said the ministry, which does not say how many are fighters or civilians but says around half have been women and children.

The ministry is part of the Hamas-run government and staffed by medical professionals. The U.N. and independent experts consider it the most reliable source on war casualties. Israel disputes the figures but has not provided its own.

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