ROME (Reuters) – Pope Francis has suggested the global community should study whether Israel’s military campaign in Gaza constitutes a genocide of the Palestinian people, in some of his most explicit criticism yet of Israel’s conduct in its year-long war.

In excerpts published on Sunday from a new forthcoming book, the pontiff said some international experts say “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 organizations,” the pope said in the excerpts, published by Italian daily La Stampa.

Israel has denied all accusations of genocide. The Israeli foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the pope’s remarks.

Last December South Africa filed a case against Israel at the International Court of Justice for allegedly violating the Genocide Convention. In January the judges at the court ordered Israel to ensure its troops commit no genocidal acts. The court has not yet ruled on the core of the case – whether genocide has occurred in Gaza.

Francis, leader of the 1.4-billion-member Catholic Church, is usually careful not to take sides in international conflicts, and to stress de-escalation. But he has stepped up his criticism of Israel’s conduct in its war against Hamas recently.

In September, he decried the deaths of Palestinian children in Israeli strikes in Gaza. He also sharply criticized Israel’s airstrikes in Lebanon as going “beyond morality”.

Francis has not previously described the situation in Gaza as a genocide in public. But last year he was at the centre of a messy dispute after a meeting with a group of Palestinians at the Vatican, who insisted he had used the word with them in private, while the Vatican said he had not.

The Vatican did not offer comment about Francis’ most recent remarks, but its news website reported on Sunday about the book excerpts, including the genocide comment.

Last week Francis met at the Vatican with a delegation of former hostages held by Hamas in Gaza, who are advocating for the release of family members and others still being held.

(Reporting by Giulio Piovaccari and Joshua McElwee; Additional reporting by Emily Rose in Jerusalem; Editing by Frances Kerry)