Israel says accusations of genocide are baseless

18/11/2024 6:12

        Pope Francis has suggested the
        global community should study whether Israel's military campaign
        in Gaza constitutes a genocide of the Palestinian people, in
        some of his most explicit criticism yet of Israel's conduct in
        its year-long war.
        
        In excerpts published on Sunday from a forthcoming book, the
        pontiff said some international experts say that "what is
        happening in Gaza has the characteristics of a genocide".
        
        "We should investigate carefully to assess whether this fits
        into the technical definition (of genocide) formulated by
        international jurists and organisations," the pope said in the
        excerpts, published by Italian daily La Stampa.
        
        Last December South Africa filed a case against Israel at
        the International Court of Justice for allegedly violating the
        Genocide Convention. In January the judges at the court ordered
        Israel to ensure its troops commit no genocidal acts. The court
        has not yet ruled on the core of the case - whether genocide has
        occurred in Gaza.
        
        Israel says accusations of genocide in its Gaza campaign
        are baseless and that it is solely hunting down Hamas and other
        armed groups.
        
        "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," said Yaron Sideman, ambassador to the Holy See.
        
        "Any attempt to call it by any other name is singling out
        the Jewish state," he posted on social media.
        
        The Vatican did not offer comment about Francis' most recent
        remarks, but its news website reported on Sunday about the book
        excerpts, including the genocide comment.
        
        Francis, leader of the 1.4-billion-member Catholic Church,
        is usually careful not to take sides in international conflicts,
        and to stress de-escalation. But he has stepped up his criticism
        of Israel's conduct in its war against Hamas recently.
        
        In September, he decried the deaths of Palestinian
        children in Israeli strikes in Gaza. He also sharply criticized
        Israel's airstrikes in Lebanon as going "beyond morality".
        
        Israel launched its campaign in Gaza after the Hamas-led
        assault on southern Israeli communities on Oct. 7, 2023. Some
        1,200 people were killed and another 250 taken hostage that day,
        according to Israeli tallies.
        
        Israel's ground and air offensive has since killed more
        than 43,800 people in the enclave, according to the Gaza health
        ministry.
        
        Francis has not previously described the situation in Gaza
        as a genocide in public. But last year he was at the centre of a
        messy dispute after a meeting with a group of Palestinians at
        the Vatican, who insisted he had used the word with them in
        private, while the Vatican said he had not.
        
        Last week Francis met at the Vatican with a delegation of
        former hostages held by Hamas in Gaza, who are advocating for
        the release of family members and others still being held.