Israel has formally complained after a senior Vatican official spoke of “carnage”, suggesting the Israeli military response to the 7 October attacks has been disproportionate.
The Israeli embassy to the Holy See called the comments by Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican secretary of state, “regrettable”.
The embassy said Cardinal Parolin had not considered the facts in judging the legitimacy of Israel’s actions.
Speaking on Tuesday at a reception, Mr Parolin condemned the Hamas attacks against Israel and all forms of antisemitism.
But he questioned Israel’s claim to be acting in self-defence by inflicting “carnage” on Gaza.
“Israel’s right to self-defence has been invoked to justify that this operation is proportional, but with 30,000 dead, it’s not,” he said.
Israel has previously objected to the Vatican position on the war, including when Pope Francis spoke about “terrorism”.
The Pope, who speaks daily via video conference to a Gaza parish housing Palestinian civilian, has since tried to be more balanced in his comments and recently wrote a letter to the Jewish people in which he reaffirmed the special relationship between Christians and Jews.
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