Israel's ambassador to the Vatican, Yaron Zeidman, responded to reports that the Pope called for an investigation to check whether Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, and stated that "on October 7, 2023, a genocidal massacre of Israeli citizens was carried out, and since then Israel has been exercising its right to self-defense against attempts to kill its citizens from seven different fronts. Any attempt to call it by any other name singles out the Jewish state."