ROME (Reuters) -Pope Leo said on Thursday he hopes to travel to Turkey later this year for the 1,700th anniversary of a major Christian Church summit, in what would be the first foreign trip of his papacy.
The early centuries of Christianity were marked by a lively debate about how Jesus could be both God and man, and the Church decided on the issue at the First Council of Nicaea - now known as Iznik in Turkey - in 325.
By Nidal al-Mughrabi and Crispian Balmer
CAIRO/JERUSALEM (Reuters) -Israeli forces killed at least 22 people in attacks in the Gaza Strip on Thursday and several were hurt in a strike on a church that late Pope Francis used to speak to regularly, medics and church officials said.
Eight men tasked with protecting aid trucks were reported among the dead in airstrikes that were carried out as mediators continued ceasefire talks in Doha.
An Israeli strike on Gaza's only Catholic church killed three people on Thursday, the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem said, as Israel said it "never targets" religious sites and regretted any harm to civilians.
Pope Leo XIV said he was "deeply saddened" by the loss of life, which a witness said was the result of a tank shell hitting the church.
AFP footage showed those injured being treated at Gaza City's Al-Ahli Hospital, also known as the Baptist Hospital, with one receiving oxygen and blood while lying under a foil blanket.
BAGHDAD (Reuters) -A drone attack targeted an oilfield operated by Norwegian oil and gas firm DNO in Tawke, in the Zakho Administration area of northern Iraq, on Thursday, the Kurdistan region's counter-terrorism service said.
The attack is the second on the DNO-operated field since a wave of drone attacks began early this week.
DNO, which operates the Tawke and Peshkabour oilfields in the Zakho area that borders Turkey, temporarily suspended production at the fields following explosions that caused no injuries, the counter-terrorism service said.
(Reuters) -A new U.S. assessment has found that American strikes in June destroyed only one of three Iranian nuclear sites, NBC News reported on Thursday, citing current and former U.S. officials familiar with the matter.
President Donald Trump rejected a military plan for further comprehensive strikes on Iran's nuclear program, which would have lasted several weeks, the report added.
Reuters could not immediately verify the report.
(Reporting by Surbhi Misra in BengaluruEditing by Bernadette Baum)
GAZA CITY (Reuters) -Two women were killed and several people were injured following a strike which hit the Catholic parish in the Gaza Strip, doctors at the Al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza City said on Thursday.
The strike damaged the Holy Family Church, the only Catholic Church inside the Palestinian enclave.
The Vatican did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The Israeli Defense Forces said it was looking into the matter.
A French appeals court Thursday ordered the release of pro-Palestinian Lebanese militant Georges Ibrahim Abdallah, imprisoned for 40 years for the 1982 killings of two foreign diplomats.
Abdallah, 74, is one of the longest-serving prisoners in France, where most convicts on life sentences are freed after less than 30 years.
He has been up for release for 25 years, but the United States -- a civil party to the case -- has consistently opposed him leaving prison.
BAGHDAD (Reuters) -A massive fire in a hypermarket in al-Kut city in eastern Iraq has left at least 60 people dead and 11 others missing, the city's health authorities and two police sources told Reuters on Thursday.
Videos circulating on social media showed flames engulfing a five-storey building in al-Kut overnight as firefighters tried to contain the blaze.
Reuters could not independently verify the videos.
From his monitoring station on a remote hill in the occupied West Bank, water operator Subhil Olayan keeps watch over a lifeline for Palestinians, the Ein Samiyah spring.
So when Israeli settlers recently attacked the system of wells, pumps and pipelines he oversees, he knew the stakes.
"There is no life without water, of course", he said, following the attack which temporarily cut off the water supply to nearby villages.
Filipino seafarer Cocoy was off-duty and resting in his cabin when the captain's voice boomed over the intercom of the cargo ship: "We are under attack".
The 38-year-old realised what sounded like a "knock" from inside the vessel was gunfire being exchanged by ship security and Huthi rebels swarming the ship in small boats.
The July 6 assault on the Greek-owned Magic Seas broke a months-long lull in attacks by Yemen's Huthi rebels on Red Sea shipping, which began after the start of the Gaza war in October 2023.
