°®Âþµº

Pope Francis on Friday decried the deaths of Palestinian children in Israeli military strikes in Gaza, calling bombings of schools "ugly".

On the flight back to Rome from Singapore, the pontiff expressed doubt that either Israel or Hamas, now at war for eleven months, were seeking to end the conflict. "I am sorry to have to say this," the pope said. "But I do not think that they are taking steps to make peace."

Francis was speaking in a press conference with journalists after a demanding 12-day tour across Southeast Asia and Oceania. He said he speaks on the phone with members of a Catholic parish in Gaza "every day" and "they tell me ugly things, difficult things".

"Please, when you see the bodies of killed children, when you see that, under the presumption that some guerrillas are there, a school is bombed, this is ugly," the 87-year-old pontiff said. "It is ugly."

The pope, who has supported calls for a ceasefire in the conflict and for the release of Israeli hostages held by Hamas, said "sometimes I think it's a war that is too much, too much".

The United Nations said on Thursday that the war has left Gaza's economy "in ruins".

The pope spoke about a range of other issues during the 40-minute press conference. He criticized both former U.S. President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris' policies, and said U.S. Catholics would have to "choose the lesser evil" when they vote in November, without elaborating.

(Reuters)