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Benjamin Netanyahu has telephoned Pope Leo as he sought to contain the fallout from an Israeli strike that killed three Palestinians in a church in Gaza and prompted a public rebuke from the White House.

The conversation between the Israeli prime minister and the new US-born leader of the Catholic church came after President Donald Trump called Netanyahu on Thursday to express his displeasure over the attack.

The Holy Family Church was struck after “fragments from a shell fired during operational activity in the area hit the church mistakenly”, the Israeli military said. Video from the church showed significant damage, and as many as 10 other people were injured.

The US has also demanded an investigation.

Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the highest-ranking Catholic official in Jerusalem, told an Italian newspaper on Friday that none of the estimated 600 people who were sheltering in the church believed it was a mistake.

The bodies of two of the victims are blessed at the Holy Family church in Gaza City © Omar Al Qattaa/AFP/Getty Images

“They say it was an error — even if everybody here believes it wasn’t,” the cardinal told Corriere della Sera.

The Holy Family Church and the neighbouring Greek Orthodox Church of Saint Porphyrius have provided refuge for Gazans through the 21-month war as the Israeli military has devastated the strip.

Pope Francis, Leo’s predecessor, had called the Holy Family Church nearly every night to pray with congregants and check on their wellbeing, including in the days before his death.

In his call with Netanyahu, Pope Leo renewed his appeal for “negotiations, a ceasefire and an end to the war” and expressed his “concern for the dramatic humanitarian situation of the people of Gaza, the heartbreaking price of which is being paid especially by children and the elderly”, the Vatican said.

Netanyahu’s office said the prime minister, who has resisted mounting pressure to agree a ceasefire or to end the war, “expressed Israel’s regret for the tragic incident”.

Israel’s offensive has killed more than 58,000 Palestinians, most of them women and children, according to local health officials. The majority of mosques in Gaza have been destroyed.

At least two dozen people across Gaza were killed on Thursday, according to health officials, but the assault on the enclave’s tiny Christian community attracted rare censure from the Trump administration over the toll of Israel’s offensive on Palestinian civilians.

The US president’s “was not a positive reaction”, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters on Thursday. State department spokesperson Tammy Bruce later added that “obviously, everyone is appalled”.

Damage to the facade of the Holy Family church in Gaza City is visible on Friday © AFP via Getty Images

“We have asked that Israel investigate the strike still, of course, and ensure that all civilians, including Christian civilians, remain safe,” Bruce said. The US president draws considerable support from American Christians, with the majority of Catholics voting for him in 2024, according to the Pew Research Center.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni — who was initially a strong supporter of Netanyahu — also criticised the attack in strident terms, suggesting it was part of a wider pattern of Israeli disregard for civilian lives in Gaza.

“The attacks against civilians that Israel has been carrying out for months are unacceptable,” she said. “No military action can justify such an attitude.”

Pizzaballa and a few other senior church officials were allowed into Gaza on Friday to ferry humanitarian aid and meet those still sheltering in the compound, according to video shared online.

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Trump’s rebuke of Netanyahu comes after weeks of negotiations for a US-backed ceasefire proposal that have stalled over Hamas’s demand that Israel agree to end the war before it releases the remaining hostages — 20 living and 30 dead — it holds in the strip.

Many Israelis believe Netanyahu is refusing to agree to the proposal in order to preserve his teetering coalition, the most far-right in Israeli history, which has demanded Israel continue fighting until it has “destroyed” Hamas.

Israel launched its campaign after Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on southern Israel, which officials say killed 1,200 people.