The group asserts that he's falsely equating the aggressors with the victims, while the pope's aides insist he's not "overlooking" the Hamas attack that launched the conflict.

In a statement following the pope's latest remarks Wednesday, Noemi Di Segni, president of the Union of Italian Jewish Communities, said, "The pope puts everyone on the same level of departure and arrival. But the departure is the terror that carries out the plan of extermination of Jews throughout the whole world."

The war in Gaza, she said, "is necessary for the defence of Israel and its population. It involves suffering but the victims must be associated with those who are truly responsible."

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