Israel’s foreign ministry has summoned the Vatican ambassador over comments by Pope Francis, in which he criticised Israeli killings in Gaza as “cruelty”, Al Jazeera reports, citing Israel’s Ynet News.

The ministry’s director general, Eyal Bar-Tal, met Archbishop Adolfo Tito Yllana on Tuesday and expressed “strong displeasure with the pope’s comments”, the Israeli outlet reported.

But the meeting was “not classified as a reprimand”.

In the lead-up to Christmas, Pope Francis had repeatedly criticised Israel over Palestinian children’s killings, Al Jazeera notes. “And with pain, I think of Gaza, of so much cruelty, of the children being machine-gunned, of the bombings of schools and hospitals. What cruelty,” he had said on Saturday.

The pope has previously met the families of those held captive in Gaza and called for their release.