Vatican City - Israel's ambassador to the Vatican on Thursday denied that "out of line" remarks by a top Holy See official on the Gaza conflict threaten ties with the Jewish state.

Relations are "as good as before" the ANSA news agency quoted Ambassador Mordechai Lewy as saying.

He was referring to Wednesday's newspaper interview in which Cardinal Renato Marino's described Gaza as a "concentration camp".

Vatican City - A diplomatic spat between the Vatican and Israel over the Gaza crisis seemed set to intensify Thursday when the Holy See's top justice official defended his remarks that Gaza "is a big concentration camp."

Cardinal Renato Martino, in an interview with Rome-daily La Repubblica, also dismissed Israeli government criticism that his comments were "based on Hamas propaganda".

"They (Israeli authorities) can say what they want," Martino told La Repubblica.

On December 27, Israel launched a military offensive against the Islamic militant Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, in response to rocket attacks from the enclave.

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.

Vatican City - Pope Benedict XVI in his annual New Year's Eve address on Wednesday urged people to shun egoism in their lives and to show "solidarity and sobriety" to help address the world's ills.

"If everyone thinks only about himself, then the world will go to ruin," the head of the Roman Catholic Church said. In remarks above all aimed at the world's youth, he said today's times provided the "opportunity to do good."

Vatican City  - Israel's airstrikes on the Gaza Strip are likely to trigger more hatred in the region, the Vatican's chief spokesman said Saturday.

Father Federico Lombardi, speaking on Vatican Radio, said an Israeli reaction to the launching of rockets by Palestinian militants following Hamas' decision not to renew a ceasefire agreement, was "expected".

However, the scale of the raids and the number of victims has left a a strong "impression," Lombardi said.

Vatican City  - Pope Benedict XVI was scheduled Wednesday to lead the Vatican's Christmas festivities by celebrating the traditional midnight Mass.

Earlier, the 81-year-old pontiff appeared briefly from a window overlooking St Peter's Square to light a candle symbolizing Peace.

Benedict's gesture followed the unveiling in the square of a Nativity Scene, or crib, that recreates the scene of Jesus' birth.