Pope Benedict XVI on Sunday denounced the violence between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, and urged everyone involved in the "tragic situation in the Middle East" to strive for humanity and wisdom.

"I implore an end to the violence which must be denounced in all its forms and a restoration of the truce on the Gaza Strip," he said in his weekly Angelus prayer.

"I call on the international community to do all it can to help the Israelis and Palestinians on this dead-end road ... and not to give in to the perverse logic of confrontation and violence but to favour the path of dialogue and negotiations," the pontiff said.

AFP