Palestinian youth share a bike as they cycles past buildings destroyed in previous Israeli bombardment, in the Sheikh Radwan neighbourhood, north of Gaza City on July 3, 2024. (Photo by Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP) Pope Francis for the first time tackled claims of Israel’s ongoing “genocide” of Palestinians in Gaza in extracts from a forthcoming book published Sunday, 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’s October 7 attack on 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 on Sunday.
