By Ahmet Gencturk
ATHENS (AA) – Pope Francis is calling for an investigation to determine whether a genocide is taking place in the Gaza Strip, the Vatican News agency reported on Sunday.
"According to some experts, what is happening in Gaza has the characteristics of a genocide. It should be carefully investigated to determine whether it fits into the technical definition formulated by jurists and international bodies,” he said in a passage from his new book of interviews, Hope Never Disappoints: Pilgrims Towards a Better World, which is due out this Tuesday.
“I am thinking above all of those who leave Gaza in the midst of the famine that has struck their Palestinian brothers and sisters given the difficulty of getting food and aid into their territory,” the pontiff added, referring to Israeli blockades which only allow a trickle of aid required by over 2 million people into the embattled enclave.
Israel has continued a devastating offensive on the Gaza Strip since Oct. 7, 2023, killing nearly 44,000 Palestinians, most of them women and children, and rendering the enclave almost uninhabitable.
It also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its actions in the blockaded enclave.