In his annual Christmas address to Catholic cardinals, the Pope appeared to reference the Israeli airstrikes that killed at least 25 Palestinians in Gaza on Friday.
As the leader of the 1.4 billion-strong Catholic Church, the Pope typically avoids taking sides in conflicts. However, he has recently become more outspoken about the Israeli war in Gaza.
Israeli Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli sharply criticized these comments in an unusual open letter published by the Italian newspaper Il Foglio on Friday. Chikli stated that "the Pope's remarks amounted to trivializing the term genocide."
The war erupted when Hamas-led militants attacked towns in southern Israel on October 7, 2023, killing 1,200 people and taking more than 250 hostages to Gaza, according to Israeli authorities.
On the other hand, Gaza authorities reported that Israel's retaliatory campaign has killed over 46,000 people, mostly civilians, and caused nearly the entire population to be displaced, destroying much of the territory.
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