Pope Francis has said that allegations of a genocide in Gaza should be \u201ccarefully investigated\u201d marking some of his strongest criticism yet of Israel\u2019s war in the territory. <\/p>\n
\u201cAccording to some experts\u2026 what is happening in Gaza has the characteristics of a genocide,\u201d Vatican News, the Holy See\u2019s official news outlet, cited the pontiff as writing in a forthcoming book. \u201cIt should be carefully investigated to determine whether it fits into the technical definition formulated by jurists and international bodies.\u201d <\/p>\n
Speaking of refugees, the pope said: \u201cI am thinking above all of those who leave Gaza in the midst of the famine that has struck their Palestinian brothers and sisters given the difficulty of getting food and aid into their territory,\u201d according to Vatican News. <\/p>\n
With few exceptions, most Gazans have been prevented from leaving the territory since the war began, but almost the entire population of more than 2 million has been internally displaced. <\/p>\n
The excerpts are from the book \u201cHope never disappoints: Pilgrims towards a better world,\u201d which is due to be released on November 19. <\/p>\n
Responding to the report in Vatican News, Yaron Sideman, Israeli ambassador to the Holy See, said \u201cthere was a genocidal massacre on 7 October 2023 of Israeli citizens,\u201d referring to the Hamas attack on Israel that killed 1,200 people and saw another 250 taken hostage. <\/p>\n
\u201cSince then, Israel has exercised its right of self-defense against attempts from seven different fronts to kill its citizens,\u201d Sideman wrote on X. \u201cAny attempt to call it by any other name is singling out the Jewish state.\u201d <\/p>\n
The 87-year-old pontiff is the latest among a growing number of international figures and organizations to refer to Israel\u2019s military operation in Gaza as a potential genocide. <\/p>\n
Israel is facing a case brought by South Africa at the United Nations\u2019 International Court of Justice (ICJ) in which Pretoria accuses the Jewish state of genocide, saying Israeli leadership is \u201cintent on destroying the Palestinians in Gaza.\u201d <\/p>\n
Israel earlier this year rejected what it called the \u201cgrossly distorted\u201d accusation of genocide leveled against it by South Africa, arguing at the ICJ that its war is being fought in self-defense against Hamas, and that it was targeting the militant group rather than Palestinians as a whole. <\/p>\n
A UN Special Committee report released Thursday said Israel\u2019s war conduct in Gaza \u201cis consistent with the characteristics of genocide,\u201d including mass civilian casualties and using starvation as a weapon. <\/p>\n
Saudi Arabia\u2019s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman last week accused Israel of carrying out genocide in Gaza, in some of his strongest criticism of the country since the war began last year. The Gulf Arab state was close to normalizing relations with Israel before the October 7 war. <\/p>\n
Pope Francis rarely comments on politics, often limiting his remarks to calls for peace. In March, he repeated his call for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in his traditional Easter message at the Vatican, condemning war as an \u201cabsurdity.\u201d <\/p>\n
He pleaded for an \u201cimmediate ceasefire,\u201d access to humanitarian aid in Gaza and the \u201cprompt release of the hostages.\u201d <\/p>\n
In December 2023, the pope addressed the deaths of two women killed by an Israeli sniper inside the Holy Family Parish in Gaza. He lamented that \u201cunarmed civilians are targets for bombs and gunfire\u201d in Gaza and invoking scripture on war. <\/p>\n
Israel\u2019s war in Gaza has killed more than 43,000 Palestinians, the ministry of health there says, and has flattened large swathes of the territory, triggering a humanitarian crisis. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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