Vatican likens Gaza to concentration camp

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The Vatican Justice Minister says the world can no longer sit and watch events in Gaza.
He says if a ceasefire cannot be agreed between the parties then one should be imposed on them.
In the most critical comments on the crisis from the Vatican so far, Cardinal Renato Martino, the President of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, said the Gaza Strip was like a "big concentration camp."
"Defenceless populations are always the ones who pay," he said. "Violence does not resolve problems, and history is full of confirmations of this."
"Look at the conditions in Gaza, more and more, it resembles a big concentration camp."
An Israeli government spokesman responded to the comments by describing them as "Hamas propaganda."
Cardinal Martini was critical of both sides in the conflict, Hamas and Israel, saying they were only pursuing their own interests without regard for the Gaza population. "No one sees the interests of the other but only its own," he said. "The consequences of such egoism are hatred for the other, poverty and injustice. The ones who pay the price are always innocent populations."
"If they can't come to an agreement, then someone else should do it for them," he said.
"The world cannot sit back and watch without doing anything."
"We Christians are not the only ones to call this land 'holy', Jews and Muslims do so too. The fact that this land is the scene of bloodshed seems a great tragedy," he added.

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