Pope Francis, asked about Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon that killed Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah as well as non-combatants, criticised military attacks that he said go “beyond morality”, Reuters reports.

On the flight back to Rome from Belgium, the pontiff said countries cannot go “over the top” in using their military forces. “Even in war there is a morality to safeguard,” he said. “War is immoral. But the rules of war give it some morality.”

Responding to a question during an in-flight press conference about Israel’s latest strikes, the 87-year-old pope said: “Defence must always be proportionate to the attack. When there is something disproportionate, you see a tendency to dominate that goes beyond morality.”

Francis said on Sunday he speaks on the phone with members of a Catholic parish in Gaza “every day”. He said the parishioners tell him about conditions on the ground, and “also the cruelty that is happening there”.