Pope Francis for the first time tackled claims of Israel’s ongoing “genocide” of Palestinians in Gaza in extracts from a forthcoming book published yesterday, urging further investigation into whether Israel’s actions meet the definition.Titled Hope Never Disappoints. Pilgrims Towards a Better World, the book includes his latest and most forthright intervention into the more than year-long war sparked by Hamas’ October 2023 storming of Israel.“According to some experts, what is happening in Gaza has the characteristics of genocide,” the pontiff wrote in extracts published on the front of Italy’s La Stampa daily yesterday.“It should be studied carefully to determine whether (the situation) corresponds to the technical definition formulated by jurists and international bodies,” he added.The Argentine pontiff has frequently deplored the number of victims of Israel’s operations in Gaza, with the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry putting the toll at least 43,846 people, most of them civilians.But his call for a probe marks the first time he has publicly used the term genocide – without endorsing it – in the context of Israeli military operations in the Palestinian territory.On the Pope’s account on X yesterday, he wrote: “Let us #PrayTogether for peace: in martyred Ukraine, in Palestine, Israel, Lebanon, Myanmar, and Sudan.“War dehumanizes, leading us to tolerate unacceptable crimes. May leaders listen to the cry of the people who long for peace.”The new book by the Pope comes out tomorrow in Italy, Spain and Latin America, with other releases elsewhere due later.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.
