Polish foreign minister calls Gaza 'terrible tragedy,' but not genocide

Poland’s Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski has said that while the situation in Gaza is a “terrible tragedy,” it does not, in his view, meet the definition of genocide.

Speaking in an interview with Polish Radio on Tuesday, Sikorski responded to a recent ruling by the UN Commission of Inquiry that accused Israel of committing genocide in the Gaza Strip.

He argued that the term should be applied with caution.

“Genocide refers to the deliberate and intentional extermination of an ethnic group, and words must be weighed carefully,” Sikorski said.

“If we overuse such words, next time we may no longer have them at our disposal.”

“If Israel truly intended to commit genocide, it would take a week or two. What we are seeing is a conflict triggered by (the Palestinian group) Hamas through an unprecedented act of terror against Israel. This is a war between Israel and Hamas, in which, tragically, a catastrophic number of civilians are being killed," he added.

Sikorski stressed that in his personal view, “what is happening there is a terrible tragedy, but it does not meet the definition of genocide.”

Sikorski also addressed the case of opposition MP Franciszek Sterczewski, who joined a humanitarian flotilla to deliver aid to Gaza and was aboard when the mission came under attack.

Sterczewski argued that he had a duty to be present “where human rights are being violated.”

Sikorski noted that no such obligation exists in Polish law, adding that while he had personally taken part in similar missions, he did so “at his own risk.”

Earlier, Sikorski conducted a poll through the US social media company X, asking whether the state should cover evacuation costs for individuals joining such missions or demand reimbursement.

Sterczewski responded that MPs have a moral duty to act in defense of human rights and urged the government to support Palestinians instead of “sending them the bill.”

The Israeli army has killed over 66,000 Palestinians, most of them women and children, in Gaza following a cross-border attack by Hamas on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.

The relentless bombardment has rendered the enclave uninhabitable and led to starvation and the spread of diseases. Last November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.