Pope Francis calls for investigation into genocide claims in Gaza - WSVN 7News | Miami News, Weather, Sports

(CNN) — Pope Francis delivered one of his strongest criticisms yet of Israel’s war in the region, saying allegations of genocide in Gaza must be “carefully investigated.”

“According to some experts… what is happening in Gaza amounts to genocide,” the pope’s official news source, Vatican News, quoted the pope as writing in a soon-to-be-released book. “It should be carefully investigated to determine whether it meets the technical definition formulated by lawyers and international organizations.”

Speaking of refugees, the Pope said, “I am thinking of those who left Gaza because of the difficulty of getting food and aid to their land, in the midst of the famine that has struck their Palestinian brothers and sisters, according to Vatican News.” .

With few exceptions, most Gazans have been prevented from leaving the area since the start of the war, but almost the entire population of more than 2 million has been internally displaced.

These quotes are from the book “Hope never disappoints: Those who journey towards a better world”, to be published on November 19.

Responding to the news in Vatican News, Israeli Ambassador to the Vatican Yaron Sideman said, “There was a genocidal massacre of Israeli citizens on October 7, 2023,” referring to the attacks carried out by Hamas against Israel, in which 1,200 people died and 250 people were killed. . pledge.

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

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

Israel is facing a lawsuit filed by South Africa at the United Nations International Court of Justice (ICJ). Pretoria accuses the Jewish state of genocide, saying that the Israeli government “intends to destroy the Palestinians in Gaza.”

Earlier this year, Israel denied a “grossly distorted” charge of genocide leveled against it by South Africa; He argued at the International Court of Justice that his war was waged in self-defense against Hamas and that he targeted the militant group rather than Hamas. Palestinians as a whole.

The UN Special Committee’s report published on Thursday said Israel’s conduct in the war in Gaza was “consistent with the characteristics of genocide”, including mass civilian casualties and the use of starvation as a weapon.

Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman last week accused Israel of committing genocide in Gaza, making one of his strongest criticisms 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.

Pope Francis rarely comments on politics and mostly limits his remarks to calls for peace. In his traditional Easter message to the Vatican in March, he repeated his call for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas and condemned the war as “nonsense.”

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

In December 2023, the pope addressed the deaths of two women killed by an Israeli sniper at the Holy Family Parish in Gaza. He lamented that “unarmed civilians are the target of bombs and gunfire” in Gaza and cited holy texts about the war.

Israel’s war in Gaza has killed more than 43,000 Palestinians and flattened large swaths of the territory, triggering a humanitarian crisis, the Health Ministry says.

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