Rome - Pope Benedict XVI Sunday called for an end to the fighting in the Gaza Strip, as Israeli troops continued their ground offensive.

The head of the Catholic Church urged the thousands of believers who had gathered at St Peter's Square in the Vatican for Sunday Angelus to pray together with the patriarchs and members of the Christian church in Jerusalem for "justice and peace for the Holy Land."

"The dramatic news that reaches us from Gaza shows that the refusal of dialogue ... has resulted in an indescribable worsening of the conditions for the population ... who are once again victims of hate and war," the pontiff said.

Benedict said that "war and hate aren't the solution" to problems in the Middle East. (dpa)