Pope Leo XIV urged Wednesday the parties involved in the conflict in Gaza to bring an end to the “terror, destruction and death”.

“The obligation to protect civilians and the prohibitions on collective punishment, indiscriminate use of force and forced displacement of the population,” he said at the end of his weekly audience with the faithful.

The Pope spoke of Tuesday’s joint statement made by the Latin and Greek Orthodox Patriarchs of Jerusalem in which they condemned the Israeli government’s decision to take control of Gaza City and force its population to evacuate.

The statement said not all civilians currently housed in the compound of the Holy Family Parish in Gaza are physically able to flee and that forcing them to go “would be nothing less than a death sentence.”

The statement said that the priests and nuns will remain in the compound to care for those people.