Pope Benedict XVI has condemned the Israeli raids against Gazan civilians, as the death toll in the coastal strip inches toward 800, reported Press TV .
The Holy See added its voice to those of world religious leaders such as the Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei in calling for an immediate halt to the Israeli war on Gaza.
"Violence, wherever it comes from and whatever form it takes, must be firmly condemned," said the Pope, while lamenting "a renewed outbreak of violence provoking immense damage and suffering for the civilian population."
Relations between Israel and the Vatican turned sour on Thursday, shortly after a senior representative of the pontiff condemned Israel for turning Gaza into "a big concentration camp".
"Defenseless populations are always the ones who pay. Look at the conditions in Gaza: more and more, it resembles a big concentration camp," said Cardinal Renato Martino, president of the Vatican's Council for Justice and Peace.
The comments drew sharp criticism from Tel Aviv. Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor said the vocabulary of Hamas propaganda, coming from a member of the College of Cardinals, "is a shocking and disappointing phenomenon".
Martino, however, defended his stance and asserted that Gazans are currently "surrounded by a wall that is difficult to breach, in conditions that go against human dignity".
The recent showdown is expected to shelve plans for the Pope to visit Israel in May.
Earlier in September, Pope Benedict XVI sparked Israeli fury when he praised the memory of Pope Pius XII on the 50th anniversary of his death and said he would like to see him beatified.
The Jewish community accuses Pius, pontiff from 1939 to 1958, of remaining tight-lipped and passive during the Nazi Holocaust and having been passive toward the persecution of Jews.