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 offensive, Reuters reports.

In excerpts published 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 organisations,” 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.