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LONDON (AP) \u2014 Madonna<\/a> has urged the pope to travel to Gaza and \u201cbring your light to the children before it\u2019s too late.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The superstar posted her appeal to the pontiff on social media Monday, saying her son Rocco\u2019s birthday prompted her to make the post. Rocco turned 25 Monday.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Addressing Pope Leo XIV, she wrote: \u201cMost Holy Father. Please go to Gaza and bring your light to the children before it\u2019s too late. As a mother, I cannot bear to watch their suffering.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cThe children of the world belong to everyone. You are the only one of us who cannot be denied entry,\u201d she added. \u201cWe need the humanitarian gates to be fully opened to save these innocent children. There is no more time. Please say you will go. Love, Madonna.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The singer added that she wasn\u2019t taking sides in the war.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cI am not pointing fingers, placing blame or taking sides. Everyone is suffering. Including the mothers of the hostages,\u201d she wrote. \u201cI pray that they are released as well. I am merely trying to do what I can to keep these children from dying of starvation.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cI once again call for an immediate end to the barbarity of this war and for a peaceful resolution to the conflict,\u201d the pontiff said last month.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Aid workers and doctors have said that after months of Israeli blockade and turmoil in the distribution of supplies<\/a>, children in Gaza with no previous conditions are starting to die<\/a> from malnutrition.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Israel\u2019s air and ground offensive, sparked by Hamas\u2019 Oct. 7, 2023 attack into Israel, has displaced most of the some 2 million Palestinians in Gaza and pushed the territory toward famine.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The United Nations said that across Gaza, more than 5,000 children were diagnosed with malnutrition in May, though that is likely an undercount. Malnutrition was virtually nonexistent before the war. Doctors struggle to treat the children because many supplies have run out, the U.N. says.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n 20 Years Of<\/span>Free<\/span>Journalism<\/span><\/p>\n Your Support Fuels Our Mission<\/p>\n Your Support Fuels Our Mission<\/p>\n