S.Africa’s Tutu calls for ‘urgent’ Israel-Gaza truce

South Africa’s Nobel peace laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu on Friday called for an urgent cessation of the renewed violence in Israel and the Gaza Strip.

“Once again, fanatics on both sides blame each other and claim to be acting with the approval of God,” Tutu said in a statement.

He launched an “appeal to the authors of violence on both sides of the conflict to urgently lay down their arms — and while doing so, to bear in mind that those whom they treat with such contempt are also Gods children.”

Deadly pounding since Wednesday by Israeli aircraft that has killed 29 Gazans and sparked outrage across the Arab and Islamic world.

A rocket attack has also killed three Israelis.

Tutu called for a fresh international approach to decisively end the “heartbreaking and all too familiar” outbreak of hostilities.

“Once again, the world wrings its hands and seeks to heal this gaping wound with a flimsy, impermanent plaster of tenuous ceasefire.”

“The conflict there is echoed in hatred and mistrust across the world.”

Tutu said a “sustainable solution must include the return of illegally occupied land and the creation of two nation states, in a process overseen by UN peacekeepers.”