A standoff between Israeli troops and Palestinian gunmen bunkered inside Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity headed into its fifth night tonight after the release of five people trapped inside.
Two Greek Orthodox priests and three female employees were allowed to exit the church, one of the holiest sites in Christendom, this afternoon, the Israeli army said.
But the Vatican denied an Italian media report that it had put forward a plan aimed at peacefully resolving the standoff, which puts at risk what Christians believes marks the birthplace of Jesus Christ.
"There is no plan by the Holy See about the siege of Bethlehem's Basilica of the Nativity," Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls said in a statement.
Italy's Ansa news agency had earlier reported that the Vatican had put forward a plan to end the five-day impasse, quoting a Rome-based spokesman of the Franciscan Order in the Holy Land, custodians of the church.
During the day, occasional gunfire was heard coming from Israeli positions around the church where there are around 200 armed gunmen and 30 Franciscans inside.
Navarro-Valls said the Vatican's representative in Israel was nevertheless continuing to give assistance to "people who are suffering" and called for the heeding of UN resolutions and the Vatican's own diplomatic efforts to end the seething Middle East crisis.
"The Holy See hopes that everyone, in Bethlehem and throughout the region, accepts the principles already sent by diplomatic means and the recently-ratified UN resolutions," Navarro-Valls said.
Ansa had earlier reported a Vatican plan, quoting Fransiscan spokesman David Jaeger, but without giving details.
AFP