REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JERUSALEM -- Israeli police said on Sunday suspects had been arrested on suspicion of torching a church revered by Christians as the site of Jesus's miracle of the feeding of the 5,000 on the shores of the Sea of Galilee.

The suspects were arrested overnight, a police spokeswoman said, following a joint investigation with the Shin Bet internal undercover security agency.

The suspects are set to face a remand hearing in the northern city of Nazareth later on Sunday.

As well as extensive fire damage to the church, a verse from a Hebrew prayer denouncing the worship of "false gods" was spray-painted in red on an outer wall of the church, suggesting Jewish zealots were responsible.