President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan spoke with Pope Francis via a phone call on Thursday to discuss the Palestine-Israel conflict and the suffering of Palestinians in besieged Gaza.

The Turkish leader told the pope it was a shame that the international community has turned a blind eye to the drama in Gaza and also stressed that Israel’s attacks, which cannot be justified in any religion, have reached the “level of massacre,” according to a statement by Presidency’s Directorate of Communications.