Pope Leo XVI says “we have to pray a lot and continue to work and try to insist” on an end to the hostilities in the Middle East after reports about an Israeli attack on Hamas leadership in Qatar.

“The whole situation is really serious,” Leo said to Italy’s RAI television.

The pope and the Vatican’s top diplomats met Israeli President Isaac Herzog last week, when he called for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza, the release of all hostages and entry of humanitarian aid to famine-stricken Palestinians there.

The Vatican told Herzog a two-state solution was the “only way out of the war,” according to a Vatican statement at the time.

The first American pope also said Tuesday that he tried without success to contact the parish priest at the Catholic church in Gaza. The priest decided against evacuating, choosing instead to remain with Palestinians sheltering in the church.

Israel launched a strike targeting Hamas’ leadership in Qatar on Tuesday, officials said, further widening its campaign against the militant group.

Qatar has served as a key negotiator in efforts to end the conflict in the Gaza Strip, and it was unclear if the attack would stall those efforts.

U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres condemned the attack Tuesday, saying “all parties must work towards achieving a permanent ceasefire, not destroying it.”

An Israeli military spokesman said Israel’s air force carried out the strike.

Syria’s Foreign Ministry warned in a statement that the Israeli strikes targeting Hamas leadership represented “a dangerous escalation that would undermine security and stability in the region.”

The ministry called the attack “a blatant violation of international law and the sovereignty of the sisterly State of Qatar.”

Qatar has been a strong supporter of the interim government in Syria since former Syrian President Bashar Assad was ousted in a lightning rebel offensive in December.

Israel has been suspicious of Syria’s new Islamist-led authorities, and Israeli forces have seized a U.N.-patrolled buffer zone in southern Syria and launched hundreds of airstrikes on Syrian military sites since Assad’s fall.

The U.S. military did not participate in the Israeli strikes that took place in Doha, according to a U.S. official, who was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

Pentagon officials referred questions about coordination to the White House. And the White House officials did not respond to request for comment.

It was not clear how much warning was provided or whether the U.S. expressed approval for the strike.

Congressional leaders appeared caught off guard by Israel’s strike.

“I’m not sure about that development,” House Speaker Mike Johnson said when asked about the situation at his weekly press conference Tuesday. “We’ll have to reserve judgement.”

Senate leaders Democrat Chuck Schumer and Republican John Thune made no mention of the strikes in their opening remarks as the chamber convened.

It was unclear if they had been briefed ahead of the action.

The Turkish Foreign Ministry condemned the strikes, describing them as “evidence of Israel’s expansionist policies and its adoption of terrorism of state strategy.”

The ministry’s statement expressed Turkey’s solidarity with Qatar and renewed a call on the international community to exert pressure to halt Israel’s actions in the Palestinian territories and the wider region.

Omer Celik, the spokesman for President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s ruling party, described the attack as a “barbaric act of terrorism.”