Australia's Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said on Tuesday that "the slaughter has to end" in Gaza after 28 countries including Britain, Japan and a host of European nations issued a joint statement Monday saying the war in Gaza "must end now.

In a joint statement the countries call for an end to the war and the release of Israeli hostages held in Gaza.

Now the primary vehicle for food distribution inside Gaza, the controversial U.S.- and Israeli-backed operation is an issue in ongoing ceasefire negotiations.

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — The U.N. food agency accused Israel of using tanks, snipers and other weapons to fire on a crowd of Palestinians seeking food aid, in what the territory’s Health Ministry said was one of the deadliest days for aid-seekers in over 21 months of war.

ABC News’ Gio Benitez is joined by Father James Martin reacting to an Israeli attack on a church in Gaza that killed three Palestinians and how Pope Leo XIV is renewing calls for a ceasefire.

Israeli soldiers shot Palestinians near an Israeli-backed aid site and a U.N. convoy. Both episodes pointed to Israel’s refusal to allow new governance structures to emerge.

The World Health Organization said the Israeli military attacked its staff residence and main warehouse in the Gazan city of Deir al-Balah on Monday, compromising its operations in Gaza. The United Nations agency said the WHO staff residence was attacked three times,

The foreign ministers of 25 Western nations have slammed Israel for “drip feeding” aid into the Gaza Strip, as the health ministry in the territory said that more than 1,000 people have been killed seeking humanitarian relief there since late May.