Israeli minister criticises Pope's call to study whether Gaza offensive 'genocide'

An Israeli government minister criticised Pope Francis on Friday for suggesting the international community should study whether Israel's military offensive in Gaza constitutes a genocide of the Palestinian people.

In an open letter published by Italian newspaper Il Foglio, Minister of Diaspora Affairs Amichai Chikli said the pope's remarks - made in excerpts from a forthcoming book that were published last month - amounted to a "trivialisation" of the term genocide.

"As a people who lost six million of its sons and daughters in the Holocaust, we are particularly sensitive to the trivialisation of the term 'genocide' - a trivialisation that comes dangerously close to Holocaust denial," Chikli wrote.

Chikli, who ended the letter by calling Francis "a dear friend of the Jewish people," asked the pope "to clarify your position regarding the new accusation of genocide against the Jewish state".

The Vatican did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the letter.

Israel says accusations of genocide in Gaza are baseless and that it is solely hunting down Hamas militants and other Palestinian armed groups.

The pope, as leader of the 1.4-billion-member Roman Catholic Church, is usually careful about taking sides in conflicts, but has recently been more outspoken about Israel's military campaign against Palestinian militant group Hamas.

In the book excerpts published by Italian daily La Stampa, the pontiff said some international experts said 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.

Authorities in the Gaza Strip say more than 45,000 Palestinians have been killed and more than 107,000 injured in Israel's offensive, and most of the enclave's more than 2 million people are homeless or displaced.

Israel began its offensive after the Hamas-led attack on communities in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, in which about 1,200 were people and more than 250 were abducted and taken to Gaza, according to Israeli tallies.