Vatican City - Pope Francis on Monday railed against the conflicts in Gaza and Ukraine, where he said "the arrogance of the invader prevails over dialogue".

The 87-year-old's words to diplomats at the Vatican came just days after he called for an investigation into claims Israel was conducting genocide of Palestinians in Gaza.

Marking 40 years of a peace deal between Chile and his native Argentina, Francis recalled ongoing conflicts and criticized the arms trade, highlighting "the hypocrisy of speaking about peace and playing at war."

"This hypocrisy always leads us to failure," he said in Spanish, adding that "dialogue must be the soul of the international community."

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"I simply mention two failures of humanity today: Ukraine and Palestine, where there is suffering, where the arrogance of the invader prevails over dialogue," he added in an unscripted remark.

Francis, who took over as head of the worldwide Catholic Church in 2013, regularly prays for the people of Gaza and the "martyred" Ukraine, which Russia invaded in 2022.

Francis has also frequently called for the return of the Israeli hostages taken by Hamas during the unprecedented October 7, 2023, attack on Israel.

In extracts published this month of a forthcoming book, he called for findings that Israel was conducting "genocide" in Gaza to be "studied carefully".

Israel has killed at least 44,235 in Gaza since October 2023, though the true death toll is feared to be much higher.

Earlier this month, a UN Special Committee determined that Israel's destruction of Gaza was "consistent with the characteristics of genocide," and the International Criminal Court has now issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for "crimes against humanity and war crimes" in Gaza.

The Vatican recognized the Palestinian territories as a sovereign state in 2013, signing a treaty in 2015.