Pope calls for probe into whether Israel is committing ‘genocide’ in Gaza
While Francis has avoided using the word ‘genocide’ publicly, the comments appear in a new book for his jubilee year over which he had editorial control
Pope Francis has called for an investigation to determine if Israel’s attacks in Gaza constitute genocide, according to excerpts released Sunday from an upcoming new book ahead of the pontiff’s jubilee year.
It’s the first time that Francis has openly urged for an investigation of genocide allegations over Israel’s actions in the Gaza Strip. In September, he said Israel’s attacks in Gaza and Lebanon have been “immoral” and disproportionate, and that its military has gone beyond the rules of war.
The book, written by Hernán Reyes Alcaide based on interviews with the Pope, is entitled “Hope never disappoints. Pilgrims towards a better world.” It will be released on Tuesday ahead of the pope’s 2025 jubilee. Francis’s yearlong jubilee is expected to bring more than 30 million pilgrims to Rome to celebrate the Holy Year.
“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 investigate carefully to determine whether it fits into the technical definition formulated by jurists and international bodies,” he added.
Israel’s ambassador to the Vatican rejected the call, saying that the only act of genocide was Hamas’s massacre of Israelis.
“Following today’s report in Vatican News: There was a genocidal massacre on 7 October 2023 of Israeli citizens, and since then, Israel has exercised its right of self-defense against attempts from seven different fronts to kill its citizens,” Yaron Sideman, ambassador to the Holy See said.
“Any attempt to call it by any other name is singling out the Jewish state,” he posts on social media.
Shortly after the war began last year, Francis met separately with relatives of Israeli hostages in Gaza and Palestinians living through the war and set off a firestorm by using words that Vatican diplomats usually avoid: “terrorism” and, according to the Palestinians, “genocide.”
Francis spoke at the time about the suffering of both Israelis and Palestinians after his meetings, which were arranged before the Israeli-Hamas hostage deal and a temporary halt in fighting last November.
The pontiff — who met last week with a delegation of Israeli hostages who were released and their families, who are pressing the campaign to bring the remaining captives home — had editorial control over the upcoming book.
The war started when the terrorist Hamas group attacked Israel on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting 251 as hostages in Gaza, where 97 still remain.
Francis has frequently called for their release over more than a year of war between Israel and Hamas.
The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry says more than 43,000 people in the Strip have been killed or are presumed dead in the fighting so far, though the toll cannot be verified and does not differentiate between civilians and fighters. Israel says it has killed some 18,000 combatants in battle as of November and another 1,000 terrorists inside Israel on October 7.
Israel has said it seeks to minimize civilian fatalities and stresses that Hamas uses Gaza’s civilians as human shields, fighting from civilian areas including homes, hospitals, schools and mosques.
On Thursday, a United Nations Special Committee judged Israel’s conduct of warfare in Gaza “consistent with the characteristics of genocide,” accusing the country of “using starvation as a method of war.”
Its conclusions have already been condemned by Israel’s key backer the United States.
It was not the first time that Israel has been the subject of genocide accusations since the start of the war.
The Israel-Hamas conflict in Gaza has triggered several legal cases 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.
In the new book, Francis also speaks about migration and the problem of integrating migrants into their host countries.
“Faced with this challenge, no country can be left alone and no one can think of addressing the issue in isolation through more restrictive and repressive laws, sometimes approved under the pressure of fear or in search of electoral advantages,” Francis said.
“On the contrary, just as we see that there is a globalization of indifference, we must respond with the globalization of charity and cooperation,” he added. Francis also mentioned the “still open wound of the war in Ukraine has led thousands of people to abandon their homes, especially during the first months of the conflict.”
