Pope Francis calls for investigation into allegations of genocide in Gaza

CNN
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Pope Francis has said claims of a genocide in Gaza should be “carefully investigated”, marking some of his strongest criticism yet of Israel’s war in the area.

“According to some experts… what is happening in Gaza has the characteristics of a genocide,” Vatican News, the official news outlet of the Holy See, quoted the pope as writing in an upcoming book. “It should be carefully examined to determine whether it fits the technical definition formulated by jurists and international bodies.”

Speaking of refugees, the Pope said: “I think above all of those who are leaving Gaza in the midst of the famine that has afflicted their Palestinian brothers and sisters because of the difficulties of getting food and aid into their territory,” according to Vatican news.

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.

The excerpts are from the book “Hope Never Disappoints: Pilgrims Towards a Better World”, which will be published on November 19.

In response to the report in Vatican News, Yaron SidemanIsrael’s ambassador to the Holy See, said “there was a genocidal massacre on October 7, 2023 of Israeli citizens,” referring to the Hamas attack on Israel that killed 1,200 people and saw another 250 taken hostage.

“Since then, Israel has exercised its right of self-defense against attempts from seven different fronts to kill its citizens,” Sideman wrote at X. “Any attempt to call it by any other name is to highlight the Jewish state.”

The 87-year-old pope is the latest among a growing number of international figures and organizations to refer to Israel’s military operation in Gaza as potential genocide.

Israel is facing a case brought by South Africa at the UN’s International Court of Justice (ICJ), with Pretoria accusing the Jewish state of genocide and saying Israeli leadership is “bent on destroying the Palestinians in Gaza.”

Israel earlier this year rejected what it called the “grossly distorted” charge of genocide brought 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.

A UN special committee report released Thursday said Israel’s conduct of war in Gaza “is consistent with the characteristics of genocide,” including mass civilian casualties and using starvation as a weapon.

Saudi Arabia’s 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 Arab Gulf state was close to normalizing relations with Israel before the October 7 war.

Pope Francis rarely comments on politics and often limits 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, denouncing war as an “absurdity”.

He called for an “immediate cease-fire,” access to humanitarian aid in Gaza and the “swift release of the hostages.”

In December 2023, the Pope spoke about the death of two women killed by an Israeli sniper in the Holy Family Parish in Gaza. He lamented that “armed civilians are the targets of bombs and gunfire” in Gaza and invoked holy scriptures on war.

Israel’s war in Gaza has killed more than 43,000 Palestinians, the health ministry there says, and has flattened large swaths of the territory, sparking a humanitarian crisis.