York Minster echoed to the sound of the Koran and Jewish holy scripture as it hosted a Vigil for Peace in Israel and Gaza.

So many people of all ages, backgrounds, faiths and no faith attended the event, they filled the central aisle and much of the side aisles of the nave.

Many of the 1,100 attendees brought their children including tiny babies. All sat silently to hear religious and civic leaders speak.

It culminated in the Archbishop of York, the Rt Rev Stephen Cottrell inviting everyone to stand for two minutes of silence before greeting their neighbour with a sign of peace.

The attendees were then invited to light a candle or leave a message on the central dais which had a large picture of a dove of peace on it.

The Dean, the Very Rev Dominic Barrington, began the vigil by recalling his own visits to Israel and the occasion when visiting the Al Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza, its internationally director told him: “It’s very simple if you want a good life, make sure that your neighbour has a good life.”

The Lord Mayor, the Rev Chris Cullwick, told the gathered crowd of the vigil: “In the heart of a city that prides itself as a city of human rights, where else would we be?”

Imam Ammar Sacha of York Mosque began his statement by quoting from the Koran and said that on God's eyes all are equal and that everyone present had come together in the search for peace and under the umbrella of humanity.

Both he and Miriam Hoffman, trustee of the York Liberal Jewish Community, said that each single death was a loss to humanity.

She called each death the loss of a world and said that whole galaxies had been lost in the Israeli – Gazan conflict. She quoted from Jewish holy scripture.

Avtar Matharu, the Sikh chair of York Interfaith, quoted “Ours is a  Town for Everyone,” a hymn by the Unitarian writer Clifford Martin Reed.

Stephen Pittam of the York Human Rights City Network  and York Central MP Rachael Maskell also addressed the gathering.

All the speakers lit candles as they finished speaking.

The Archbishop said since the violence in Israel and Gaza began “I learn or relearnt that human blood is red” regardless of who it comes from and “the cry of a child needs no translation” regardless of the language used.

He said in Britain and Europe we take peace for granted, and that peace loving is not enough. 

He urged everyone to see themselves in each other and be peacemakers.