Pope Francis calls for investigation into allegations of genocide in Gaza | Israel-Palestine conflict news

Pope Francis has called for an inquiry to determine whether Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, tackling the issue for the first time in excerpts from a forthcoming book.

“According to some experts, what is happening in Gaza has the characteristics of a genocide,” the Pope said in excerpts published Sunday by the Italian daily La Stampa.

“We should examine carefully to determine whether it fits the technical definition formulated by jurists and international bodies,” he added.

The book, by Hernan Reyes Alcaide and based on interviews with the Pope, is titled Hope Never Disappoints: Pilgrims to a Better World. It will be released on Tuesday ahead of the pope’s 2025 jubilee, which is expected to bring more than 30 million pilgrims to Rome to celebrate.

The Argentine pope has often lamented the death toll of Israel’s war in Gaza, which has killed 43,846 people, most of them civilians, according to the territory’s health ministry.

But his call for an investigation marks the first time he has publicly used the term “genocide,” albeit without endorsing its use, in connection with the Israeli military offensive in Gaza.

Israel’s embassy in the Vatican responded later Sunday with a post on X, citing its ambassador Yaron Sideman.

“There was a genocidal massacre on October 7, 2023 of Israeli citizens, and since then Israel has exercised its right of self-defense against attempts by seven different fronts to kill its citizens,” the statement said.

“Any attempt to call it by another name is to highlight the Jewish state.”

But campaigners and Palestinian supporters have branded the Israeli offensive a “war of revenge” that has left the Gaza Strip in ruins.

Strengthens the criticism

The war in Gaza has sparked several trials at international courts in The Hague involving requests for arrest warrants as well as accusations and denials of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide.

On Thursday, a UN special committee assessed Israel’s warfare in Gaza as “compatible with the characteristics of genocide” and accused the country of “using starvation as a method of war”.

Its conclusions have already been condemned by Israel’s main backer, the United States.

South Africa brought a genocide case to the International Court of Justice with the support of several countries, including Turkey, Spain and Mexico. In January, judges at the court ordered Israel to ensure that its troops do not commit genocide. The court has not yet decided on the core of the case – whether genocide has occurred in Gaza.

Pope Francis, head of the 1.4 billion-member Catholic Church, is usually careful not to take sides in international conflicts and emphasizes de-escalation. But he has stepped up his criticism of Israel’s conduct in its war against the Palestinians.

In September, he condemned the killing of Palestinian children in Israeli attacks in Gaza. He also sharply criticized Israel’s airstrikes in Lebanon for going “beyond morality”.

Francis has not previously publicly described the situation in Gaza as genocide. But last year he was at the center of a messy row after a meeting with a group of Palestinians at the Vatican who insisted he had used the word privately with them, when the Vatican said he had not.

Francis has also frequently called for the return of Israeli prisoners taken by Hamas on October 7, 2023. Of the 251 people taken that day, 97 are still being held in the Palestinian Territory, including 34 who the Israeli army says are dead .

On Thursday, the Pope received 16 former prisoners who were freed after months of detention in Gaza.