Leaders from the Catholic and Greek Orthodox Church visited Gaza’s only Catholic church on Friday, where a day earlier three people were killed in an Israeli strike. The visit is highly unusual given Israel’s tight control over access in and out of the territory.

The religious delegation to Gaza included two Patriarchs from Jerusalem — Latin Patriarch Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa and Greek Orthodox Patriarch Theophilos III. The rare visit aimed to express the “shared pastoral solicitude of the Churches of the Holy Land,” a statement said.