THE VATICAN /PNN /  

Pope Francis today called for an end to the Israeli military operations in Gaza that killed more than 20,000 Palestinians, mainly children, and for a solution to the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip.

"I plead for an end to the military operations with their appalling harvest of innocent civilian victims, and call for a solution to the desperate humanitarian situation by an opening to the provision of humanitarian aid," the Pope told the thousands who gathered in Saint Peter's Basilica in the Vatican to hear his Christmas message.

He called for the resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict "through sincere and persevering dialogue between the parties, sustained by strong political will and the support of the international community."

In his Christmas Eve message the day before, Pope Francis also called for peace in the Holy Land.

"Tonight, our hearts are in Bethlehem, where the Prince of Peace is once more rejected by the futile logic of war, by the clash of arms that even today prevents him from finding room in the world," he said.

Christmas was canceled in Bethlehem in solidarity with the people in the Gaza Strip who have been suffering under relentless Israeli bombardment for 80 straight days that killed 20,258 civilians and wounded 53,688 others, more than 70 percent of them were children and women, as well as the destruction of more than 80 percent of the homes.