May 21 (UPI) -- Newly inaugurated Pope Leo XIV on Wednesday made an appeal to end hostility in Gaza and called for humanitarian aid to enter the war-torn territory with reports suggesting a worsening outlook.
"I renew my heartfelt appeal to allow the entry of dignified humanitarian aid and to put an end to the hostilities, whose heartbreaking price is paid by the children, elderly and the sick," the pontiff said to tens of thousands of Catholic faithful during his first general audience in St. Peter's Square.
The pope spoke on a cloudy day and called the situation in the Gaza Strip "increasingly worrying and painful."
According to international human rights organizations, Gaza is at a "breaking point" while the United Nations-backed Integrated Food Security Phase Classification has warned of imminent famine.
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On Wednesday, Leo took turns in the popemobile around the square during the public display to cheers, banners and waving flags as he stopped to bless babies held out along the way.
Leo also invoked the "beloved Pope Francis," who died on April 21, saying he "returned to the house of the Father."
The plea from the Catholic leader arrived as the number of dead and injured in Gaza kept rising under continued Israeli airstrikes on Tuesday which has left tens of thousands dead since October 2023.
On Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced the aid blockade would be lifted immediately after intense pressure from the international community amid famine warnings, with Israel claiming 93 aid trucks entered Gaza on Tuesday which was up from five on Monday.
Despite this, experts say the aid will do little to alleviate growing disparities and suffering with spiking numbers of dead men, women and children.
By Wednesday, U.N. and Catholic Church officials stated that little to no aid had been permitted to reach Palestinian victims in dire need of food and medical supplies despite the dozens of trucks crossing into the strip via Israel after Israel ended its 11-week blockade.
"Peace is a good message from him," Father Rolmart Verano from the Diocese of Surigao in the Philippines, who was present on Wednesday, told Catholic News Agency.
"Now with India and Pakistan," he added, "we should go for peace and the pope is mostly focusing on peace."
