Friday, 28 July 2006, 01:19 GMT 02:19 UK
Israeli troops have killed five Palestinians, including a 75-year-old woman, in Gaza, Palestinians say.
The reported deaths come a day after at least 23 Palestinians were killed by the Israeli military in Gaza.
Israeli forces have been taking part in air and ground assaults in Gaza in a campaign to force the release of an Israeli soldier, captured in late June.
The EU has meanwhile given millions of dollars in aid to Palestinians, much of it to pay the wages of health workers.
An EU official told the AFP news agency the 40m euro ($51m) payment marked the third instalment in an aid package aimed at directly paying Palestinian public sector workers, bypassing the Hamas-led government.
The office of EU External Affairs Commissioner, Benita Ferrero-Waldner, said the bloc would make "modest" payments directly into the bank accounts of some 13,000 health sector workers.
The EU is the biggest aid donor to the Palestinians but suspended much of its aid earlier this year over the Hamas-led government's refusal to renounce violence and recognise Israel.
Some one million Palestinians, or a quarter of the population in the West Bank and Gaza, depend on the wages of the Palestinian Authority's 160,000 employees.
'Militant killed'
Palestinian officials said a 75-year-old woman was killed by shrapnel from an Israeli shell fired at her house near Jabaliya camp in the Gaza Strip.
Israel's air force fired several missiles at eastern Gaza City, killing a Hamas militant and wounding several other people, according to the Associated Press news agency.
The agency also quotes Palestinian officials as saying a boy standing on the roof of his house in Jabaliya was killed by Israeli gunfire late on Thursday.
It is unclear if the two other people reported killed in Gaza were militants or civilians.
More than 140 Palestinians have died since Israel began its latest assault on Gaza.
The campaign was triggered by the capture of an Israeli soldier by Hamas-linked militants in a cross-border raid late last month.
CRISIS in the MIDDLE EAST
Moderators: Cell_Leader, ikaotiki, Julstar
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theone666
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US 'outrage' over Israeli claims
Friday, 28 July 2006, 15:23 GMT 16:23 UK
The US state department has dismissed as "outrageous" a suggestion by Israel that it has been authorised by the world to continue bombing Lebanon.
"The US is sparing no efforts to bring a durable and lasting end to this conflict," said spokesman Adam Ereli.
Israeli Justice Minister Haim Ramon made the suggestion after powers meeting in Rome refrained from demanding an immediate ceasefire.
UK PM Tony Blair has arrived in Washington for talks on the crisis.
His meeting with US President George W Bush comes amid growing pressure for the UK and US to join calls for an immediate ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah.
Israel has carried out dozens of fresh strikes on Lebanon. Lebanese officials said at least 12 people had been killed.
Meanwhile about 50 Hezbollah rockets have landed on northern Israel, hitting towns including Nazareth, Kiryat Shemona and Safed. Seven people have been injured.
Hezbollah and Israeli television report that Hezbollah has fired a new type of missile - described as a Khaibar-1 - at northern Israel, striking near the town of Afula.
Convoy hit
Elsewhere, two mortar rounds hit a convoy of vehicles carrying civilians escaping the violence in southern Lebanon.
The BBC's Jim Muir, who was with the convoy, said two people were wounded when the rounds exploded next to their vehicle.
The convoy, organised by the Australian embassy, was returning to the port city of Tyre from the border village of Rmeish, where hundreds of people have been trapped by the Israeli offensive.
Our correspondent says the cars were clearly marked as a press and civilian convoy, and that individual journalists had been in contact with the Israelis who knew about the journey.
A BBC security adviser travelling in a car behind the German television car said he believed the mortar rounds had been fired from the Israeli side.
At talks in Rome on Wednesday, the US, UK and regional powers urged peace be sought with the "utmost urgency", but stopped short of calling for an immediate truce. That prompted Mr Ramon to declare Israel had received "permission from the world... to continue the operation".
But questioned by reporters on the sidelines of a summit in Kuala Lumpur, Mr Ereli said: "Any such statement is outrageous."
The US has said a ceasefire is only worth it if it can be made to last. Mr Bush reiterated the US's rejection of a "false peace" on Thursday evening.
The BBC's world affairs correspondent, Nick Childs, points out that Mr Bush also emphasised how troubled he was by the mounting casualties, a suggestion - perhaps - that he is increasingly conscious of the price Washington is paying for its closeness to Israel.
According to Mr Blair's official spokesman, the UK leader wants to step up a gear in securing a UN agreement for an international stabilisation force in southern Lebanon.
But the BBC's James Coomersamy in Washington says that for the moment, there has been no sign that either leader is wavering in his much-criticised opposition to the idea of an immediate ceasefire.
Air strikes
Some 425 Lebanese, the vast majority civilians, are confirmed killed in the 17 days of the conflict - but a Lebanese minister has suggested scores more bodies lie under the rubble.
Fifty-one Israelis, including at least 18 civilians, have been killed, mostly by Hezbollah rockets.
The Israeli assault began after Hezbollah captured two Israeli soldiers and killed eight in a cross-border raid on 12 July.
In the latest developments:
A Jordanian man was killed and at least three other people wounded in one of several strikes in Kfar Joz, close to the southern Lebanese market town of Natabiyeh
There were multiple strikes on the Bekaa Valley to the east, on villages around Tyre, and roads in the south-east
Sporadic clashes were reported in Bint Jbeil, where Israel suffered its worst single losses on Wednesday
Unarmed UN observers have been temporarily relocated from border positions in southern Lebanon after the deaths of four UN observers in an Israeli strike on Tuesday
In Israel, few people still speak of being able to neutralise Hezbollah, our correspondent in Jerusalem Katya Adler says.
Instead Israel speaks of trying to establish a "secure zone" empty of Hezbollah fighters north of the border with Israel.
The Israeli government's announcement that it is calling up three divisions of reservists - said to number between 15,000 to 40,000 - suggests it is preparing for the possibility of a protracted war, our correspondent says.
The US state department has dismissed as "outrageous" a suggestion by Israel that it has been authorised by the world to continue bombing Lebanon.
"The US is sparing no efforts to bring a durable and lasting end to this conflict," said spokesman Adam Ereli.
Israeli Justice Minister Haim Ramon made the suggestion after powers meeting in Rome refrained from demanding an immediate ceasefire.
UK PM Tony Blair has arrived in Washington for talks on the crisis.
His meeting with US President George W Bush comes amid growing pressure for the UK and US to join calls for an immediate ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah.
Israel has carried out dozens of fresh strikes on Lebanon. Lebanese officials said at least 12 people had been killed.
Meanwhile about 50 Hezbollah rockets have landed on northern Israel, hitting towns including Nazareth, Kiryat Shemona and Safed. Seven people have been injured.
Hezbollah and Israeli television report that Hezbollah has fired a new type of missile - described as a Khaibar-1 - at northern Israel, striking near the town of Afula.
Convoy hit
Elsewhere, two mortar rounds hit a convoy of vehicles carrying civilians escaping the violence in southern Lebanon.
The BBC's Jim Muir, who was with the convoy, said two people were wounded when the rounds exploded next to their vehicle.
The convoy, organised by the Australian embassy, was returning to the port city of Tyre from the border village of Rmeish, where hundreds of people have been trapped by the Israeli offensive.
Our correspondent says the cars were clearly marked as a press and civilian convoy, and that individual journalists had been in contact with the Israelis who knew about the journey.
A BBC security adviser travelling in a car behind the German television car said he believed the mortar rounds had been fired from the Israeli side.
At talks in Rome on Wednesday, the US, UK and regional powers urged peace be sought with the "utmost urgency", but stopped short of calling for an immediate truce. That prompted Mr Ramon to declare Israel had received "permission from the world... to continue the operation".
But questioned by reporters on the sidelines of a summit in Kuala Lumpur, Mr Ereli said: "Any such statement is outrageous."
The US has said a ceasefire is only worth it if it can be made to last. Mr Bush reiterated the US's rejection of a "false peace" on Thursday evening.
The BBC's world affairs correspondent, Nick Childs, points out that Mr Bush also emphasised how troubled he was by the mounting casualties, a suggestion - perhaps - that he is increasingly conscious of the price Washington is paying for its closeness to Israel.
According to Mr Blair's official spokesman, the UK leader wants to step up a gear in securing a UN agreement for an international stabilisation force in southern Lebanon.
But the BBC's James Coomersamy in Washington says that for the moment, there has been no sign that either leader is wavering in his much-criticised opposition to the idea of an immediate ceasefire.
Air strikes
Some 425 Lebanese, the vast majority civilians, are confirmed killed in the 17 days of the conflict - but a Lebanese minister has suggested scores more bodies lie under the rubble.
Fifty-one Israelis, including at least 18 civilians, have been killed, mostly by Hezbollah rockets.
The Israeli assault began after Hezbollah captured two Israeli soldiers and killed eight in a cross-border raid on 12 July.
In the latest developments:
A Jordanian man was killed and at least three other people wounded in one of several strikes in Kfar Joz, close to the southern Lebanese market town of Natabiyeh
There were multiple strikes on the Bekaa Valley to the east, on villages around Tyre, and roads in the south-east
Sporadic clashes were reported in Bint Jbeil, where Israel suffered its worst single losses on Wednesday
Unarmed UN observers have been temporarily relocated from border positions in southern Lebanon after the deaths of four UN observers in an Israeli strike on Tuesday
In Israel, few people still speak of being able to neutralise Hezbollah, our correspondent in Jerusalem Katya Adler says.
Instead Israel speaks of trying to establish a "secure zone" empty of Hezbollah fighters north of the border with Israel.
The Israeli government's announcement that it is calling up three divisions of reservists - said to number between 15,000 to 40,000 - suggests it is preparing for the possibility of a protracted war, our correspondent says.
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Israel ends deadly Gaza operation
Friday, 28 July 2006, 12:17 GMT 13:17 UK
The Israeli army has pulled out of the Gaza Strip after a two-day operation in which at least 29 Palestinians were killed, many of them civilians.
Air strikes overnight destroyed several buildings across the territory, killing two Palestinians, one a teenage boy.
The Israeli army says it attacked weapons facilities in four areas in a continuing campaign to weaken militant groups in Gaza.
Eyewitnesses say farmland, power lines and telephone cables were destroyed.
Among those killed in the operation were a baby, two infants, three teenagers and a 75-year-old woman, Palestinians say.
One report said that 13 militants had been killed in the operation.
Israel says it killed 25 "terrorists".
The offensive in Gaza began a month ago in response, Israel says, to the capture of its soldier Gilad Shalit by Hamas-linked militants.
Militant groups say that was motivated by Israeli bombardments that killed several civilians.
Aid from the EU
The EU has meanwhile given millions of dollars in aid to Palestinians, much of it to pay the wages of health workers.
An EU official told the AFP news agency the 40m euro ($51m) payment marked the third instalment in an aid package aimed at directly paying Palestinian public sector workers, bypassing the Hamas-led government.
EU External Affairs Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner said after visiting Gaza on Thursday that the situation was of "total crisis.
"We hope that there will be immediate work to put to a stop the violence on both sides," she was quoted as saying by AFP.
The EU is the biggest aid donor to the Palestinians but suspended much of its aid earlier this year over the Hamas-led government's refusal to renounce violence and recognise Israel.
Some one million Palestinians, or a quarter of the population in the West Bank and Gaza, depend on the wages of the Palestinian Authority's 160,000 employees.
The Israeli army has pulled out of the Gaza Strip after a two-day operation in which at least 29 Palestinians were killed, many of them civilians.
Air strikes overnight destroyed several buildings across the territory, killing two Palestinians, one a teenage boy.
The Israeli army says it attacked weapons facilities in four areas in a continuing campaign to weaken militant groups in Gaza.
Eyewitnesses say farmland, power lines and telephone cables were destroyed.
Among those killed in the operation were a baby, two infants, three teenagers and a 75-year-old woman, Palestinians say.
One report said that 13 militants had been killed in the operation.
Israel says it killed 25 "terrorists".
The offensive in Gaza began a month ago in response, Israel says, to the capture of its soldier Gilad Shalit by Hamas-linked militants.
Militant groups say that was motivated by Israeli bombardments that killed several civilians.
Aid from the EU
The EU has meanwhile given millions of dollars in aid to Palestinians, much of it to pay the wages of health workers.
An EU official told the AFP news agency the 40m euro ($51m) payment marked the third instalment in an aid package aimed at directly paying Palestinian public sector workers, bypassing the Hamas-led government.
EU External Affairs Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner said after visiting Gaza on Thursday that the situation was of "total crisis.
"We hope that there will be immediate work to put to a stop the violence on both sides," she was quoted as saying by AFP.
The EU is the biggest aid donor to the Palestinians but suspended much of its aid earlier this year over the Hamas-led government's refusal to renounce violence and recognise Israel.
Some one million Palestinians, or a quarter of the population in the West Bank and Gaza, depend on the wages of the Palestinian Authority's 160,000 employees.
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theone666
- Major [O-4]
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Israel Pounds Dozens of Targets in Lebanon
By THOMAS WAGNER, AP
JERUSALEM (July 28) -- Israeli warplanes fired missiles at dozens of targets across southern Lebanon overnight Friday, including buildings that were reduced to rubble and a Hezbollah base where long-range rockets were stored, the military said.
Meanwhile in Malaysia, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said she will return to the Middle East to meet with Israeli officials to try to bring an end to the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, which has entered its third week. Rice didn't say when she would return, but she had been expected to return to the region this weekend.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair was also en route to Washington where his spokesman said he would seek a U.N. resolution to resolve the conflict during talks with President Bush. The spokesman, who spoke on customary condition of anonymity, said Britain hoped a U.N. resolution could be in place by next week.
Israeli defense forces said aircraft hit a total of 130 targets in Lebanon on Thursday and early Friday, including a Hezbollah base in the Bekaa Valley, where long-range rockets were stored, and 57 Hezbollah structures, six missile launching sites and six communication facilities.
Israeli jets fired missiles at a three-story building near the southern Lebanon market town of Nabatiyeh, destroying the building and killing a Jordanian man who was hit by shrapnel in a nearby home, Lebanese security officials.
The building housed a construction company believed to be owned by a Hezbollah activist, the officials said on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk with the media. The strike also wounded four children nearby, they said.
Israel also destroyed two buildings in the village of Kfar Jouz near Nabatiyeh, and civil defense teams were struggling to rescue people believed buried in the rubble, witnesses said.
Warplanes pounded roads in southeastern Lebanon, a Lebanese army checkpoint in Ansar village and a castle in Arnoun village near the Lebanon-Israel border. In addition, Israeli jets fired more than 30 missiles at suspected Hezbollah hideouts in hills and mountainous areas in the southern part of the country, security officials said.
Meanwhile, the guerrillas continued to launch rockets into northern Israel on Friday, with 10 fired at the towns of Ma'alot, Karmiel and Safed by midmorning, the army said. No casualties were reported.
At least 438 people have been reported killed in Lebanon since fighting broke out between Israeli forces and Hezbollah guerrillas, most of them Lebanese civilians. But Lebanon's health minister estimated Thursday that as many as 600 civilians have been killed so far in the offensive.
Thirty-three Israeli soldiers have died in the fighting and 19 civilians have been killed in Hezbollah's unyielding rocket attacks on Israel's northern towns, the army said.
The army said Friday that Israeli troops have killed about 200 Hezbollah guerrillas since fighting began more than two weeks ago. Hezbollah has reported far fewer casualties.
Israel launched its offensive in Lebanon on July 12, after Hezbollah guerrillas overran the border, killing eight soldiers and capturing two others. Israeli forces opened an earlier offensive in the Gaza Strip on June 28, three days after Hamas militants attacked Israeli army post in southern Israeli, killing two soldiers and capturing another one.
Hezbollah and Hamas have both demanded the release of Hezbollah and Palestinian prisoners in return for freedom for the three Israeli captives, but Israel's government has refused.
Israel decided on Thursday not to expand its ground battle with Hezbollah guerrillas in southern Lebanon for now, but the Cabinet authorized the army to call up 30,000 reserve soldiers in case the fighting intensified.
Rice, who was attending a regional security conference in Malaysia on Friday, had said earlier that she was "willing and ready" to return to the region to work for a sustainable peace agreement.
"I do think it is important that groundwork be laid so I can make the most of whatever time I can spend there," she said at a news conference Friday.
Israel radio and the Haaretz newspaper reported that Rice will fly to Israel on Saturday night to discuss the Mideast crisis. Haaretz said she plans to meet with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Sunday. Israel's foreign ministry and the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv declined to comment.
The United States, adopting a diplomatic stance that has not been embraced by allies, has been insisting that any cease-fire to the violence must come with conditions. Otherwise, Rice and other U.S. officials have said repeatedly, they fear just a repetition of the on-again, off-again violence of recent years.
During a meeting in Rome on Wednesday, Rice faced strong demands from European governments for an immediate cease-fire in Lebanon. But she won extra time for Israel's military campaign against Hezbollah, arguing for a "sustainable" cease-fire, one that would allow Lebanon's government to assert its authority over Hezbollah's control of southern Lebanon and diminish the influence of Syria and Iran in Lebanon's affairs.
Bush has suggested he would support the offensive for as long as it would take to cripple Hezbollah. He also sharply condemned Iran for supporting the guerrillas.
In his meeting with Bush on Friday, Blair's spokesman said the British prime minister would try "to increase the urgency, the pace of diplomacy, in identifying the practical steps that are necessary to bring about a cease-fire on both sides."
"We want to accelerate discussions that are going on among the international community, identifying those who would serve in a stabilization force, and increase the tempo of putting that stabilization force together," the spokesman said.
Fierce ground battles that raged Wednesday in the Lebanese border villages of Bint Jbail and Maroun al-Ras appeared to have abated, with U.N. observers reporting only "sporadic fighting" there Thursday. Early Friday, Israel ground forces were fighting guerrillas in Bint Jbail, but no casualties were reported.
On Thursday, the Israeli military installed a Patriot interceptor missile battery north of Tel Aviv, saying it believes the area could be in range of missiles that Hezbollah has obtained from Syria, Israel Defense Forces said. The Patriot system can intercept long-range missiles fired at Israel but not the short-range Katyusha rockets, hundreds of which have been fired by Hezbollah from southern Lebanon.
Associated Press Writers Jennifer Quinn in London, Katherine Shrader in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and Hussein Dakroub in Beirut, Lebanon, contributed to this report.
AP-NY-07-28-06 06:17 EDT
JERUSALEM (July 28) -- Israeli warplanes fired missiles at dozens of targets across southern Lebanon overnight Friday, including buildings that were reduced to rubble and a Hezbollah base where long-range rockets were stored, the military said.
Meanwhile in Malaysia, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said she will return to the Middle East to meet with Israeli officials to try to bring an end to the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, which has entered its third week. Rice didn't say when she would return, but she had been expected to return to the region this weekend.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair was also en route to Washington where his spokesman said he would seek a U.N. resolution to resolve the conflict during talks with President Bush. The spokesman, who spoke on customary condition of anonymity, said Britain hoped a U.N. resolution could be in place by next week.
Israeli defense forces said aircraft hit a total of 130 targets in Lebanon on Thursday and early Friday, including a Hezbollah base in the Bekaa Valley, where long-range rockets were stored, and 57 Hezbollah structures, six missile launching sites and six communication facilities.
Israeli jets fired missiles at a three-story building near the southern Lebanon market town of Nabatiyeh, destroying the building and killing a Jordanian man who was hit by shrapnel in a nearby home, Lebanese security officials.
The building housed a construction company believed to be owned by a Hezbollah activist, the officials said on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk with the media. The strike also wounded four children nearby, they said.
Israel also destroyed two buildings in the village of Kfar Jouz near Nabatiyeh, and civil defense teams were struggling to rescue people believed buried in the rubble, witnesses said.
Warplanes pounded roads in southeastern Lebanon, a Lebanese army checkpoint in Ansar village and a castle in Arnoun village near the Lebanon-Israel border. In addition, Israeli jets fired more than 30 missiles at suspected Hezbollah hideouts in hills and mountainous areas in the southern part of the country, security officials said.
Meanwhile, the guerrillas continued to launch rockets into northern Israel on Friday, with 10 fired at the towns of Ma'alot, Karmiel and Safed by midmorning, the army said. No casualties were reported.
At least 438 people have been reported killed in Lebanon since fighting broke out between Israeli forces and Hezbollah guerrillas, most of them Lebanese civilians. But Lebanon's health minister estimated Thursday that as many as 600 civilians have been killed so far in the offensive.
Thirty-three Israeli soldiers have died in the fighting and 19 civilians have been killed in Hezbollah's unyielding rocket attacks on Israel's northern towns, the army said.
The army said Friday that Israeli troops have killed about 200 Hezbollah guerrillas since fighting began more than two weeks ago. Hezbollah has reported far fewer casualties.
Israel launched its offensive in Lebanon on July 12, after Hezbollah guerrillas overran the border, killing eight soldiers and capturing two others. Israeli forces opened an earlier offensive in the Gaza Strip on June 28, three days after Hamas militants attacked Israeli army post in southern Israeli, killing two soldiers and capturing another one.
Hezbollah and Hamas have both demanded the release of Hezbollah and Palestinian prisoners in return for freedom for the three Israeli captives, but Israel's government has refused.
Israel decided on Thursday not to expand its ground battle with Hezbollah guerrillas in southern Lebanon for now, but the Cabinet authorized the army to call up 30,000 reserve soldiers in case the fighting intensified.
Rice, who was attending a regional security conference in Malaysia on Friday, had said earlier that she was "willing and ready" to return to the region to work for a sustainable peace agreement.
"I do think it is important that groundwork be laid so I can make the most of whatever time I can spend there," she said at a news conference Friday.
Israel radio and the Haaretz newspaper reported that Rice will fly to Israel on Saturday night to discuss the Mideast crisis. Haaretz said she plans to meet with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Sunday. Israel's foreign ministry and the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv declined to comment.
The United States, adopting a diplomatic stance that has not been embraced by allies, has been insisting that any cease-fire to the violence must come with conditions. Otherwise, Rice and other U.S. officials have said repeatedly, they fear just a repetition of the on-again, off-again violence of recent years.
During a meeting in Rome on Wednesday, Rice faced strong demands from European governments for an immediate cease-fire in Lebanon. But she won extra time for Israel's military campaign against Hezbollah, arguing for a "sustainable" cease-fire, one that would allow Lebanon's government to assert its authority over Hezbollah's control of southern Lebanon and diminish the influence of Syria and Iran in Lebanon's affairs.
Bush has suggested he would support the offensive for as long as it would take to cripple Hezbollah. He also sharply condemned Iran for supporting the guerrillas.
In his meeting with Bush on Friday, Blair's spokesman said the British prime minister would try "to increase the urgency, the pace of diplomacy, in identifying the practical steps that are necessary to bring about a cease-fire on both sides."
"We want to accelerate discussions that are going on among the international community, identifying those who would serve in a stabilization force, and increase the tempo of putting that stabilization force together," the spokesman said.
Fierce ground battles that raged Wednesday in the Lebanese border villages of Bint Jbail and Maroun al-Ras appeared to have abated, with U.N. observers reporting only "sporadic fighting" there Thursday. Early Friday, Israel ground forces were fighting guerrillas in Bint Jbail, but no casualties were reported.
On Thursday, the Israeli military installed a Patriot interceptor missile battery north of Tel Aviv, saying it believes the area could be in range of missiles that Hezbollah has obtained from Syria, Israel Defense Forces said. The Patriot system can intercept long-range missiles fired at Israel but not the short-range Katyusha rockets, hundreds of which have been fired by Hezbollah from southern Lebanon.
Associated Press Writers Jennifer Quinn in London, Katherine Shrader in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and Hussein Dakroub in Beirut, Lebanon, contributed to this report.
AP-NY-07-28-06 06:17 EDT
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theone666
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UN calls for humanitarian truce
Friday, 28 July 2006, 20:51 GMT 21:51 UK
The UN humanitarian chief has called for a 72-hour truce between Israel and Hezbollah to allow aid into southern Lebanon and casualties to be removed.
Jan Egeland said that many children, elderly and disabled had been stranded after more than two weeks of fighting.
Mr Egeland estimated that about 600 Lebanese have been killed, around a third of them children.
He was briefing the UN Security Council after visiting Lebanon, Israel and also the Gaza Strip.
"It's been horrific... There is something fundamentally wrong with the war, where there are more dead children than armed men," Mr Egeland said.
He said he would ask the parties involved in the conflict "for at least a 72-hour start of this cessation of hostilities so that we can evacuate the wounded, children, the elderly, the disabled from the crossfire in southern Lebanon".
Convoy hit
Mr Egeland said existing humanitarian corridors were not adequate to meet the immense needs of people in the war zone.
Earlier on Friday, two mortar rounds hit a convoy of vehicles evacuating civilians from the village of Rmeish, close to the Israeli border. Two people travelling in a German TV car were wounded.
Refugees from Rmeish said conditions were deteriorating rapidly in the area.
They said some of those still trapped in the village were drinking water from a stagnant pond.
A senior official at the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) in Lebanon told the BBC that supplies were "running out very, very fast" in southern Lebanon.
"The south is definitely where the critical needs are at the moment. You've got active combat going on, several tens if not hundreds of thousands of persons displaced within the south," Arafat Jamal said.
Aid agencies also said that many people in the area were in urgent need of medical treatment.
The UN has made repeated calls for a permanent cessation of hostilities and moves toward a full ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah - but this so far has been rejected.
The UN humanitarian chief has called for a 72-hour truce between Israel and Hezbollah to allow aid into southern Lebanon and casualties to be removed.
Jan Egeland said that many children, elderly and disabled had been stranded after more than two weeks of fighting.
Mr Egeland estimated that about 600 Lebanese have been killed, around a third of them children.
He was briefing the UN Security Council after visiting Lebanon, Israel and also the Gaza Strip.
"It's been horrific... There is something fundamentally wrong with the war, where there are more dead children than armed men," Mr Egeland said.
He said he would ask the parties involved in the conflict "for at least a 72-hour start of this cessation of hostilities so that we can evacuate the wounded, children, the elderly, the disabled from the crossfire in southern Lebanon".
Convoy hit
Mr Egeland said existing humanitarian corridors were not adequate to meet the immense needs of people in the war zone.
Earlier on Friday, two mortar rounds hit a convoy of vehicles evacuating civilians from the village of Rmeish, close to the Israeli border. Two people travelling in a German TV car were wounded.
Refugees from Rmeish said conditions were deteriorating rapidly in the area.
They said some of those still trapped in the village were drinking water from a stagnant pond.
A senior official at the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) in Lebanon told the BBC that supplies were "running out very, very fast" in southern Lebanon.
"The south is definitely where the critical needs are at the moment. You've got active combat going on, several tens if not hundreds of thousands of persons displaced within the south," Arafat Jamal said.
Aid agencies also said that many people in the area were in urgent need of medical treatment.
The UN has made repeated calls for a permanent cessation of hostilities and moves toward a full ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah - but this so far has been rejected.
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Fighting Intensifies Between Israel, Hezbollah
By KATHY GANNON, AP
TYRE, Lebanon (July 28) - Israeli warplane and artillery attacks Friday hit Hezbollah positions and crushed houses and roads in southern Lebanon, killing up to 12 people. Hezbollah said it fired a new kind of rocket, which landed deeper inside Israel than hundreds of other strikes in 17 days of fighting.
The Israel army said late in the day that it killed 26 Hezbollah guerrillas in the fight for the southern town of Bint Jbail. The army had no comment on Israeli casualties, but Israel Radio reported six Israeli soldiers were wounded.
Eight Israelis died earlier this week in the battle for Bint Jbail. The town has the largest Shiite community along the border and became known as the "capital of the resistance" during Israel's 1982-2000 occupation because of its vehement support for the Shiite Hezbollah.
Earlier Friday, the United Nations has decided to remove 50 observers from the Israeli-Lebanon border, locating them instead at better-protected posts with 2,000 lightly armed U.N. peacekeepers. The move comes days after Israeli bombs hit a U.N. observer station, killing four.
Also, the United States evacuated about 500 more U.S. citizens from Beirut aboard a chartered cruise ship, believed to the last U.S.-organized mass departure for Americans. Some 15,000 U.S. citizens have now left Lebanon.
The European Union said it has finished evacuating most of its 20,000 citizens who wanted to leave Lebanon, and will now help evacuate nationals of poorer, non-EU countries.
Diplomatic efforts emerged on several fronts to end the crisis, which erupted after Hezbollah guerrillas captured two Israeli soldiers in a cross-border raid July 12, sparking Israel's harsh retaliation.
In Washington, President Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair said they want an international force dispatched quickly to the Mideast and called for a U.N. resolution next week.
Standing side-by-side at the White House, Bush and Blair said any plan to end the fighting must address long-running regional issues - a reference to Hezbollah's control of south Lebanon and the influence of Syria and Iran in Lebanon's affairs.
Bush said he and Blair envisioned a resolution providing "a framework for the cessation of hostilities on an urgent basis and mandating the multinational force." He announced he was sending Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice back to the region Saturday to negotiate the terms.
The united stance by Bush and Blair on addressing the root causes of the current crisis set them against other European and Arab nations. Earlier Friday, French President Jacques Chirac said France will press for the rapid adoption of a U.N. Security Council resolution calling for an immediate, unconditional cease-fire.
Meanwhile, Hezbollah announced it used a new rocket, the Khaibar-1 - named after a famed battle between Islam's Prophet Muhammad and Jewish tribes in the Arabian peninsula - to strike the northern Israeli town of Afula. Guerrilla rockets have hit near town before, but this attack was the deepest yet.
Israeli police said five rockets hit outside Afula but caused no injuries.
The strike came two days after Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah vowed his guerrillas would fire rockets beyond Haifa, Israel's third-largest city, which has been hit repeatedly in the conflict.
Israeli authorities said the rocket was likely a renamed Fajr-5, an Iranian-made weapon whose 45-mile range could hit the northern outskirts of Tel Aviv. It would be the first time Hezbollah has launched a Fajr-5, after firing hundreds of smaller Katyusha rockets into northern Israel.
The rockets that hit outside Afula carried 220 pounds of explosives; the Fajr-5 is capable of carrying twice that amount. Hezbollah has hit Haifa in deadly strikes using the Fajr-3, which has a somewhat shorter range; 220 pounds is around its maximum payload.
Guerrillas on Friday also fired 96 smaller rockets at several northern Israeli towns, the Israeli army said. One rocket hit the top floor window of the main hospital in the Israeli border town of Nahariya. No casualties were reported in the rocket fire.
The group did not specify the range of the new rocket or give other details. But Israeli police said it was the first time a missile of this type has hit Israel and that it carried 220 pounds of explosives. That is about the size of the payload of the Fajr-3 rocket that Hezbollah has fired previously, but the Fajr-3 is not believed to have the range to hit Afula.
The heaviest known Hezbollah rocket is the Fajr-5, with a 440-pound payload and a range of 45 miles, able to hit Tel Aviv's northern outskirts.
Late Thursday and early Friday, Israeli warplanes struck 130 targets in Lebanon, including a Hezbollah base in the Bekaa Valley, where long-range rockets were stored, 57 Hezbollah structures, six missile-launching sites and six communication facilities, Israel said.
The bombardment - along with artillery pounding the south - often hit populated areas and caused casualties.
One airstrike flattened a house in the village of Hadatha, and six people inside were believed dead or wounded, the Lebanese state news agency reported. Hezbollah's al-Manar TV said all six were dead.
Missiles fired by Israeli jets also destroyed three buildings in the village of Kfar Jouz near the market town of Nabatiyeh. A Jordanian was killed with a Lebanese couple when their shelter collapsed, Lebanese security officials said.
Nine people, including children, were wounded in the raid, which apparently targeted an apartment belonging to a Hezbollah activist. Civil defense teams in Kfar Jouz struggled to rescue people believed buried under the rubble of a collapsed three-story structure, witnesses said.
Three women were killed in strikes on their homes in southern villages of Talouseh, Sheitiyeh and Bazouriyeh - Nasrallah's hometown, security officials said.
Israel fired more than 40 artillery shells at the village of Arnoun just outside Nabatiyeh, next to the Crusader-era Beaufort Castle, which has a commanding view of the border area, witnesses said. Israeli artillery also hit a convoy evacuating villagers from Rmeish, lightly wounding a driver and a Lebanese cameraman for German TV news.
At least 443 people have been killed in Lebanon in the fighting, most of them civilians, according to a Health Ministry count Thursday based on bodies taken to hospitals, plus deaths Friday confirmed by security forces. But Lebanon's health minister estimated Thursday that as many as Lebanese 600 civilians have been killed, with other victims buried in rubble.
On the Israeli side, 33 soldiers have died in fighting, and Hezbollah rocket attacks on northern Israel have killed 19 civilians, the Israeli army said.
The army said Friday that Israeli troops have killed about 200 Hezbollah guerrillas, but Hezbollah has reported only 35 casualties.
7/28/2006 17:43 EDT
TYRE, Lebanon (July 28) - Israeli warplane and artillery attacks Friday hit Hezbollah positions and crushed houses and roads in southern Lebanon, killing up to 12 people. Hezbollah said it fired a new kind of rocket, which landed deeper inside Israel than hundreds of other strikes in 17 days of fighting.
The Israel army said late in the day that it killed 26 Hezbollah guerrillas in the fight for the southern town of Bint Jbail. The army had no comment on Israeli casualties, but Israel Radio reported six Israeli soldiers were wounded.
Eight Israelis died earlier this week in the battle for Bint Jbail. The town has the largest Shiite community along the border and became known as the "capital of the resistance" during Israel's 1982-2000 occupation because of its vehement support for the Shiite Hezbollah.
Earlier Friday, the United Nations has decided to remove 50 observers from the Israeli-Lebanon border, locating them instead at better-protected posts with 2,000 lightly armed U.N. peacekeepers. The move comes days after Israeli bombs hit a U.N. observer station, killing four.
Also, the United States evacuated about 500 more U.S. citizens from Beirut aboard a chartered cruise ship, believed to the last U.S.-organized mass departure for Americans. Some 15,000 U.S. citizens have now left Lebanon.
The European Union said it has finished evacuating most of its 20,000 citizens who wanted to leave Lebanon, and will now help evacuate nationals of poorer, non-EU countries.
Diplomatic efforts emerged on several fronts to end the crisis, which erupted after Hezbollah guerrillas captured two Israeli soldiers in a cross-border raid July 12, sparking Israel's harsh retaliation.
In Washington, President Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair said they want an international force dispatched quickly to the Mideast and called for a U.N. resolution next week.
Standing side-by-side at the White House, Bush and Blair said any plan to end the fighting must address long-running regional issues - a reference to Hezbollah's control of south Lebanon and the influence of Syria and Iran in Lebanon's affairs.
Bush said he and Blair envisioned a resolution providing "a framework for the cessation of hostilities on an urgent basis and mandating the multinational force." He announced he was sending Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice back to the region Saturday to negotiate the terms.
The united stance by Bush and Blair on addressing the root causes of the current crisis set them against other European and Arab nations. Earlier Friday, French President Jacques Chirac said France will press for the rapid adoption of a U.N. Security Council resolution calling for an immediate, unconditional cease-fire.
Meanwhile, Hezbollah announced it used a new rocket, the Khaibar-1 - named after a famed battle between Islam's Prophet Muhammad and Jewish tribes in the Arabian peninsula - to strike the northern Israeli town of Afula. Guerrilla rockets have hit near town before, but this attack was the deepest yet.
Israeli police said five rockets hit outside Afula but caused no injuries.
The strike came two days after Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah vowed his guerrillas would fire rockets beyond Haifa, Israel's third-largest city, which has been hit repeatedly in the conflict.
Israeli authorities said the rocket was likely a renamed Fajr-5, an Iranian-made weapon whose 45-mile range could hit the northern outskirts of Tel Aviv. It would be the first time Hezbollah has launched a Fajr-5, after firing hundreds of smaller Katyusha rockets into northern Israel.
The rockets that hit outside Afula carried 220 pounds of explosives; the Fajr-5 is capable of carrying twice that amount. Hezbollah has hit Haifa in deadly strikes using the Fajr-3, which has a somewhat shorter range; 220 pounds is around its maximum payload.
Guerrillas on Friday also fired 96 smaller rockets at several northern Israeli towns, the Israeli army said. One rocket hit the top floor window of the main hospital in the Israeli border town of Nahariya. No casualties were reported in the rocket fire.
The group did not specify the range of the new rocket or give other details. But Israeli police said it was the first time a missile of this type has hit Israel and that it carried 220 pounds of explosives. That is about the size of the payload of the Fajr-3 rocket that Hezbollah has fired previously, but the Fajr-3 is not believed to have the range to hit Afula.
The heaviest known Hezbollah rocket is the Fajr-5, with a 440-pound payload and a range of 45 miles, able to hit Tel Aviv's northern outskirts.
Late Thursday and early Friday, Israeli warplanes struck 130 targets in Lebanon, including a Hezbollah base in the Bekaa Valley, where long-range rockets were stored, 57 Hezbollah structures, six missile-launching sites and six communication facilities, Israel said.
The bombardment - along with artillery pounding the south - often hit populated areas and caused casualties.
One airstrike flattened a house in the village of Hadatha, and six people inside were believed dead or wounded, the Lebanese state news agency reported. Hezbollah's al-Manar TV said all six were dead.
Missiles fired by Israeli jets also destroyed three buildings in the village of Kfar Jouz near the market town of Nabatiyeh. A Jordanian was killed with a Lebanese couple when their shelter collapsed, Lebanese security officials said.
Nine people, including children, were wounded in the raid, which apparently targeted an apartment belonging to a Hezbollah activist. Civil defense teams in Kfar Jouz struggled to rescue people believed buried under the rubble of a collapsed three-story structure, witnesses said.
Three women were killed in strikes on their homes in southern villages of Talouseh, Sheitiyeh and Bazouriyeh - Nasrallah's hometown, security officials said.
Israel fired more than 40 artillery shells at the village of Arnoun just outside Nabatiyeh, next to the Crusader-era Beaufort Castle, which has a commanding view of the border area, witnesses said. Israeli artillery also hit a convoy evacuating villagers from Rmeish, lightly wounding a driver and a Lebanese cameraman for German TV news.
At least 443 people have been killed in Lebanon in the fighting, most of them civilians, according to a Health Ministry count Thursday based on bodies taken to hospitals, plus deaths Friday confirmed by security forces. But Lebanon's health minister estimated Thursday that as many as Lebanese 600 civilians have been killed, with other victims buried in rubble.
On the Israeli side, 33 soldiers have died in fighting, and Hezbollah rocket attacks on northern Israel have killed 19 civilians, the Israeli army said.
The army said Friday that Israeli troops have killed about 200 Hezbollah guerrillas, but Hezbollah has reported only 35 casualties.
7/28/2006 17:43 EDT
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theone666
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Bush aims for rapid Lebanon force
Friday, 28 July 2006, 21:48 GMT 22:48 UK
An international force must be quickly despatched to Lebanon, US President George W Bush has said.
After talks in Washington with UK Prime Minister Tony Blair, Mr Bush said the two countries' goal was to achieve a "lasting peace" in the region.
But neither called for an immediate ceasefire. The US secretary of state is returning to the region on Saturday.
Earlier, Hezbollah said it had fired a new long-range rocket, called the Khaibar-1, into northern Israel.
Meanwhile, the UN has called for a 72-hour truce in the conflict zone in southern Lebanon to allow humanitarian aid in and to get casualties out.
Mr Bush said he and Mr Blair had agreed an international force would augment the Lebanese army, and assist with the distribution of humanitarian aid.
He told reporters their top priorities in dealing with the crisis were to:
Help provide immediate humanitarian relief
Achieve an end to the violence
Return those displaced by the crisis
Help with reconstruction
Mr Bush said Condoleezza Rice would hold talks with the leaders of Israel and Lebanon to agree a proposal to achieve lasting peace.
The UN Security Council would meet next week to discuss the issue, he added.
"Our goal is a Chapter Seven resolution setting out a clear framework for cessation of hostilities on an urgent basis and mandating the multinational force," he said.
"Prime Minister Blair and I believe that this approach gives the best hope to end the violence and create lasting peace and stability in Lebanon."
The leaders' meeting comes amid growing pressure on the US and UK to join calls for an immediate ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah.
But the BBC's James Coomerasamy in Washington said that their fundamental position did not appear to have changed - rather than demanding an immediate ceasefire, Mr Bush and Mr Blair called for a framework to enable the cessation of hostilities.
"This is a moment of intense conflict in the Middle East," Mr Bush said. "Yet our aim is to turn it into a moment of opportunity and a chance for broader change in the region."
Mr Blair said he and Mr Bush agreed that a UN resolution was needed as quickly as possible to stop the fighting in Lebanon.
But he warned: "Nothing will work unless as well as an end to the immediate crisis, we put in place the measures necessary to prevent it occurring again."
As the two leaders held talks, the violence continued on the ground.
Hezbollah said its new rocket had landed south of the city of Haifa, the deepest strike inside Israel so far.
Israeli police have confirmed that a previously unknown rocket carrying up to 100kg of explosives had struck an area near the town of Afula.
The attack came as the Israeli army said it would deploy patriot anti-missile batteries near Tel Aviv, Israel's largest city, in case Hezbollah started using longer-range missiles.
The strike formed part of a barrage of more 100 rockets fired into northern Israel, injuring at least seven people.
Israel has carried out dozens of fresh strikes on Lebanon. Lebanese officials said at least 12 people had been killed.
Israel said late on Friday that 26 Hezbollah fighters had been killed in fighting around the town of Bint Jbeil.
Convoy hit
Earlier on Friday, two mortar rounds hit a convoy of vehicles carrying civilians escaping the violence in southern Lebanon. Two people travelling in a German TV car were wounded.
The convoy, organised by the Australian embassy, was returning to the port city of Tyre from the border village of Rmeish, where hundreds of people have been trapped by the Israeli offensive.
Our correspondent says the cars were clearly marked as a press and civilian convoy, and that individual journalists had been in contact with the Israelis who knew about the journey.
The Israeli Defence Forces said they did not believe the mortars were theirs but were still checking.
Air strikes
Some 425 Lebanese, the vast majority civilians, are confirmed killed in the 17 days of the conflict - but a Lebanese minister has suggested scores more bodies lie under the rubble.
Fifty-one Israelis, including at least 18 civilians, have been killed, mostly by Hezbollah rockets.
The Israeli assault began after Hezbollah captured two Israeli soldiers and killed eight in a cross-border raid on 12 July.
Israeli Defence Minister Amir Peretz stressed on Friday Israel had no plans to start operations against Syria.
In other developments:
A Jordanian man was killed and at least three other people wounded in one of several strikes in Kfar Joz, close to the south Lebanese market town of Natabiyeh
There were multiple strikes on the Bekaa Valley to the east, on villages around Tyre, and roads in the south-east
Israeli soldiers killed at least 15 Hezbollah fighters in Bint Jbeil, the Israeli army said. Israel suffered its worst single losses in the southern town on Wednesday
Unarmed UN observers have been temporarily relocated from border positions in southern Lebanon after the deaths of four UN observers in an Israeli strike on Tuesday
Israeli military chief Dan Halutz was taken to hospital after feeling unwell but later returned home, Israeli Channel 10 TV reported.
An international force must be quickly despatched to Lebanon, US President George W Bush has said.
After talks in Washington with UK Prime Minister Tony Blair, Mr Bush said the two countries' goal was to achieve a "lasting peace" in the region.
But neither called for an immediate ceasefire. The US secretary of state is returning to the region on Saturday.
Earlier, Hezbollah said it had fired a new long-range rocket, called the Khaibar-1, into northern Israel.
Meanwhile, the UN has called for a 72-hour truce in the conflict zone in southern Lebanon to allow humanitarian aid in and to get casualties out.
Mr Bush said he and Mr Blair had agreed an international force would augment the Lebanese army, and assist with the distribution of humanitarian aid.
He told reporters their top priorities in dealing with the crisis were to:
Help provide immediate humanitarian relief
Achieve an end to the violence
Return those displaced by the crisis
Help with reconstruction
Mr Bush said Condoleezza Rice would hold talks with the leaders of Israel and Lebanon to agree a proposal to achieve lasting peace.
The UN Security Council would meet next week to discuss the issue, he added.
"Our goal is a Chapter Seven resolution setting out a clear framework for cessation of hostilities on an urgent basis and mandating the multinational force," he said.
"Prime Minister Blair and I believe that this approach gives the best hope to end the violence and create lasting peace and stability in Lebanon."
The leaders' meeting comes amid growing pressure on the US and UK to join calls for an immediate ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah.
But the BBC's James Coomerasamy in Washington said that their fundamental position did not appear to have changed - rather than demanding an immediate ceasefire, Mr Bush and Mr Blair called for a framework to enable the cessation of hostilities.
"This is a moment of intense conflict in the Middle East," Mr Bush said. "Yet our aim is to turn it into a moment of opportunity and a chance for broader change in the region."
Mr Blair said he and Mr Bush agreed that a UN resolution was needed as quickly as possible to stop the fighting in Lebanon.
But he warned: "Nothing will work unless as well as an end to the immediate crisis, we put in place the measures necessary to prevent it occurring again."
As the two leaders held talks, the violence continued on the ground.
Hezbollah said its new rocket had landed south of the city of Haifa, the deepest strike inside Israel so far.
Israeli police have confirmed that a previously unknown rocket carrying up to 100kg of explosives had struck an area near the town of Afula.
The attack came as the Israeli army said it would deploy patriot anti-missile batteries near Tel Aviv, Israel's largest city, in case Hezbollah started using longer-range missiles.
The strike formed part of a barrage of more 100 rockets fired into northern Israel, injuring at least seven people.
Israel has carried out dozens of fresh strikes on Lebanon. Lebanese officials said at least 12 people had been killed.
Israel said late on Friday that 26 Hezbollah fighters had been killed in fighting around the town of Bint Jbeil.
Convoy hit
Earlier on Friday, two mortar rounds hit a convoy of vehicles carrying civilians escaping the violence in southern Lebanon. Two people travelling in a German TV car were wounded.
The convoy, organised by the Australian embassy, was returning to the port city of Tyre from the border village of Rmeish, where hundreds of people have been trapped by the Israeli offensive.
Our correspondent says the cars were clearly marked as a press and civilian convoy, and that individual journalists had been in contact with the Israelis who knew about the journey.
The Israeli Defence Forces said they did not believe the mortars were theirs but were still checking.
Air strikes
Some 425 Lebanese, the vast majority civilians, are confirmed killed in the 17 days of the conflict - but a Lebanese minister has suggested scores more bodies lie under the rubble.
Fifty-one Israelis, including at least 18 civilians, have been killed, mostly by Hezbollah rockets.
The Israeli assault began after Hezbollah captured two Israeli soldiers and killed eight in a cross-border raid on 12 July.
Israeli Defence Minister Amir Peretz stressed on Friday Israel had no plans to start operations against Syria.
In other developments:
A Jordanian man was killed and at least three other people wounded in one of several strikes in Kfar Joz, close to the south Lebanese market town of Natabiyeh
There were multiple strikes on the Bekaa Valley to the east, on villages around Tyre, and roads in the south-east
Israeli soldiers killed at least 15 Hezbollah fighters in Bint Jbeil, the Israeli army said. Israel suffered its worst single losses in the southern town on Wednesday
Unarmed UN observers have been temporarily relocated from border positions in southern Lebanon after the deaths of four UN observers in an Israeli strike on Tuesday
Israeli military chief Dan Halutz was taken to hospital after feeling unwell but later returned home, Israeli Channel 10 TV reported.
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theone666
- Major [O-4]
- Posts: 1434
- Joined: Mon Nov 21, 2005 5:00 am
UN deaths 'threaten peacekeeping'
Saturday, 29 July 2006, 09:50 GMT 10:50 UK
The UN has warned the deaths of four of its personnel in southern Lebanon may deter countries from contributing to a future peacekeeping force in the area.
UN deputy chief Mark Malloch-Brown said they accepted Israel's apology for the losses to Israeli fire, but still had "serious concerns" about what happened.
The UN has called for a three-day truce to let aid enter Lebanon, but Israel has rejected the request.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice returns to the region on Saturday.
She is expected to lobby for a UN Security Council resolution that would lead to an international force being deployed in southern Lebanon.
The US president has again dismissed calls for an immediate truce.
The UN says some 600 people have been killed by Israeli action in Lebanon, of which about a third were children.
Fifty-one Israelis, including at least 18 civilians, have been killed, mostly by Hezbollah rockets.
The Israeli assault began after Hezbollah captured two Israeli soldiers and killed eight in a cross-border raid on 12 July.
In other developments:
Lebanon has said an Israeli attack on fuel tanks at a power plant has created the biggest environmental disaster the Mediterranean region has known
A bridge has been destroyed in the eastern Bekaa valley as the Israeli air force continues its bombardment of Lebanon
Several rockets have been launched at the northern Israel town of Safid amid further fire by Hezbollah.
'Serious threat'
Israel said Tuesday's deaths in a strike on a UN base were an accident - but UN officials said they had contacted Israel a dozen times before the bombing and asked them to stop firing, which Israel did not.
Mr Malloch-Brown told the BBC the UN "continued to harbour serious concerns about what went on in the Israeli military forces that day".
He said the losses posed a "very serious threat to the whole concept of peacekeeping.
"Peacekeeping is a dangerous business [which] depends on the support of the international community," he said.
"When people die it is not a simple accident to be brushed away."
The UN Security Council issued a statement voicing "shock and distress" at the deaths, after the US blocked calls for harsher criticism of Israel.
Mr Malloch-Brown said Washington would have to "think hard" about the consequences of its move for the recruitment of an international force.
UK Prime Minister Tony Blair said world leaders would discuss the deployment of a "stabilisation force" at a meeting at the UN headquarters in New York on Monday.
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said countries who may be in a position to contribute troops would attend the meeting on the proposal, which is due for discussion by the Security Council later next week.
'Fundamentally wrong'
The UN humanitarian chief has said children, elderly and disabled have been left stranded by two weeks of fighting.
"There is something fundamentally wrong with the war, where there are more dead children than armed men," Jan Egeland told the Security Council after a trip to the region.
A senior official at the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) in Lebanon told the BBC that supplies were "running out very, very fast" in southern Lebanon.
Aid agencies also said that many people in the area were in urgent need of medical treatment.
The UN has warned the deaths of four of its personnel in southern Lebanon may deter countries from contributing to a future peacekeeping force in the area.
UN deputy chief Mark Malloch-Brown said they accepted Israel's apology for the losses to Israeli fire, but still had "serious concerns" about what happened.
The UN has called for a three-day truce to let aid enter Lebanon, but Israel has rejected the request.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice returns to the region on Saturday.
She is expected to lobby for a UN Security Council resolution that would lead to an international force being deployed in southern Lebanon.
The US president has again dismissed calls for an immediate truce.
The UN says some 600 people have been killed by Israeli action in Lebanon, of which about a third were children.
Fifty-one Israelis, including at least 18 civilians, have been killed, mostly by Hezbollah rockets.
The Israeli assault began after Hezbollah captured two Israeli soldiers and killed eight in a cross-border raid on 12 July.
In other developments:
Lebanon has said an Israeli attack on fuel tanks at a power plant has created the biggest environmental disaster the Mediterranean region has known
A bridge has been destroyed in the eastern Bekaa valley as the Israeli air force continues its bombardment of Lebanon
Several rockets have been launched at the northern Israel town of Safid amid further fire by Hezbollah.
'Serious threat'
Israel said Tuesday's deaths in a strike on a UN base were an accident - but UN officials said they had contacted Israel a dozen times before the bombing and asked them to stop firing, which Israel did not.
Mr Malloch-Brown told the BBC the UN "continued to harbour serious concerns about what went on in the Israeli military forces that day".
He said the losses posed a "very serious threat to the whole concept of peacekeeping.
"Peacekeeping is a dangerous business [which] depends on the support of the international community," he said.
"When people die it is not a simple accident to be brushed away."
The UN Security Council issued a statement voicing "shock and distress" at the deaths, after the US blocked calls for harsher criticism of Israel.
Mr Malloch-Brown said Washington would have to "think hard" about the consequences of its move for the recruitment of an international force.
UK Prime Minister Tony Blair said world leaders would discuss the deployment of a "stabilisation force" at a meeting at the UN headquarters in New York on Monday.
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said countries who may be in a position to contribute troops would attend the meeting on the proposal, which is due for discussion by the Security Council later next week.
'Fundamentally wrong'
The UN humanitarian chief has said children, elderly and disabled have been left stranded by two weeks of fighting.
"There is something fundamentally wrong with the war, where there are more dead children than armed men," Jan Egeland told the Security Council after a trip to the region.
A senior official at the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) in Lebanon told the BBC that supplies were "running out very, very fast" in southern Lebanon.
Aid agencies also said that many people in the area were in urgent need of medical treatment.
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theone666
- Major [O-4]
- Posts: 1434
- Joined: Mon Nov 21, 2005 5:00 am
Israel rejects UN aid truce call
Saturday, 29 July 2006, 13:35 GMT 14:35 UK
Israel has rejected a United Nations call for a three-day truce in southern Lebanon, as US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice returns to the region.
The UN says children, elderly and disabled are trapped and supplies are short after two weeks of fighting.
But an Israeli spokesman said there was no need for a truce as they had opened a humanitarian corridor to the area.
Ms Rice is expected to discuss proposals to deploy a multinational force in southern Lebanon.
However, the UN has warned the deaths of four of its personnel may deter countries from contributing to a future force.
The UN says some 600 people have been killed by Israeli action in Lebanon, of which about a third were children.
Fifty-one Israelis, including at least 18 civilians, have been killed, mostly by Hezbollah rockets.
The Israeli assault began after Hezbollah captured two Israeli soldiers and killed eight in a cross-border raid on 12 July.
In other developments:
Lebanon has said an Israeli attack on fuel tanks at a power plant has created the biggest environmental disaster the Mediterranean region has known
A bridge has been destroyed in the eastern Bekaa valley as the Israeli air force continues its bombardment of Lebanon
Several rockets have been launched at the northern Israel town of Safid amid further fire by Hezbollah.
Israeli officials have indicated to the BBC that Israel may be willing to stop fighting as soon as a UN resolution is passed next week - and before the arrival of international peacekeepers.
But they say a ceasefire must meet certain key conditions, including a guarantee that Hezbollah will not move back into positions close to the border nor re-arm.
Meanwhile, Israeli military sources have indicated that the fighting could intensify.
The BBC's diplomatic correspondent Paul Adams says Israel would prefer a deal but they are publicly prepared to continue fighting if they do not get one.
'Think hard'
The US secretary of state is expected to talk to Israeli and Lebanese leaders about proposals to deploy a multinational force, as part of what US President George W Bush calls a viable plan for ending hostilities.
World leaders are due to discuss a deployment at a meeting at the UN headquarters in New York on Monday.
UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said countries who may be in a position to contribute troops would attend the meeting on the proposal, which is due for discussion by the Security Council later next week.
Earlier, the UN deputy chief issued a warning over the peacekeeper deaths in an Israeli strike on a UN base.
Mark Malloch-Brown said they had accepted Israel's apology, but still had "serious concerns" about what happened.
UN officials said they had contacted Israel a dozen times before the bombing and asked them to stop firing, which Israel did not.
Mr Malloch-Brown said the losses posed a "very serious threat to the whole concept of neutral peacekeeping.
"Peacekeeping is a dangerous business and we depend on the support of the international community," he said.
Washington would have to "think hard" about the consequences of its failure to condemn the killings for the recruitment of an international force, he added.
The UN Security Council issued a statement voicing "shock and distress" at the deaths, after the US blocked calls for harsher criticism of Israel.
Israel has rejected a United Nations call for a three-day truce in southern Lebanon, as US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice returns to the region.
The UN says children, elderly and disabled are trapped and supplies are short after two weeks of fighting.
But an Israeli spokesman said there was no need for a truce as they had opened a humanitarian corridor to the area.
Ms Rice is expected to discuss proposals to deploy a multinational force in southern Lebanon.
However, the UN has warned the deaths of four of its personnel may deter countries from contributing to a future force.
The UN says some 600 people have been killed by Israeli action in Lebanon, of which about a third were children.
Fifty-one Israelis, including at least 18 civilians, have been killed, mostly by Hezbollah rockets.
The Israeli assault began after Hezbollah captured two Israeli soldiers and killed eight in a cross-border raid on 12 July.
In other developments:
Lebanon has said an Israeli attack on fuel tanks at a power plant has created the biggest environmental disaster the Mediterranean region has known
A bridge has been destroyed in the eastern Bekaa valley as the Israeli air force continues its bombardment of Lebanon
Several rockets have been launched at the northern Israel town of Safid amid further fire by Hezbollah.
Israeli officials have indicated to the BBC that Israel may be willing to stop fighting as soon as a UN resolution is passed next week - and before the arrival of international peacekeepers.
But they say a ceasefire must meet certain key conditions, including a guarantee that Hezbollah will not move back into positions close to the border nor re-arm.
Meanwhile, Israeli military sources have indicated that the fighting could intensify.
The BBC's diplomatic correspondent Paul Adams says Israel would prefer a deal but they are publicly prepared to continue fighting if they do not get one.
'Think hard'
The US secretary of state is expected to talk to Israeli and Lebanese leaders about proposals to deploy a multinational force, as part of what US President George W Bush calls a viable plan for ending hostilities.
World leaders are due to discuss a deployment at a meeting at the UN headquarters in New York on Monday.
UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said countries who may be in a position to contribute troops would attend the meeting on the proposal, which is due for discussion by the Security Council later next week.
Earlier, the UN deputy chief issued a warning over the peacekeeper deaths in an Israeli strike on a UN base.
Mark Malloch-Brown said they had accepted Israel's apology, but still had "serious concerns" about what happened.
UN officials said they had contacted Israel a dozen times before the bombing and asked them to stop firing, which Israel did not.
Mr Malloch-Brown said the losses posed a "very serious threat to the whole concept of neutral peacekeeping.
"Peacekeeping is a dangerous business and we depend on the support of the international community," he said.
Washington would have to "think hard" about the consequences of its failure to condemn the killings for the recruitment of an international force, he added.
The UN Security Council issued a statement voicing "shock and distress" at the deaths, after the US blocked calls for harsher criticism of Israel.
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theone666
- Major [O-4]
- Posts: 1434
- Joined: Mon Nov 21, 2005 5:00 am
Israel strikes on Gaza continue
Saturday, 29 July 2006, 14:33 GMT 15:33 UK
Israel is keeping up its offensive on Palestinian targets in the Gaza Strip, with air strikes on a suspected arms factory on Saturday.
A tunnel used by Palestinian militants was also bombed, the Israeli army said.
On Friday, the Israeli army withdrew from the area, following a two-day offensive which killed 29 Palestinians.
The renewed attacks come as Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas held brief talks with President Mubarak of Egypt to discuss proposal to end the violence.
There were no reports of casualties from the latest air raids.
Israeli ground forces were also reported to have launched a new incursion into northern Gaza, near the Erez crossing point.
Continuing campaign
In its earlier two-day operation, the Israeli army destroyed several buildings across the territory, killing two Palestinians, one a teenage boy.
The Israeli army says it attacked weapons facilities in four areas in a continuing campaign to weaken militant groups in Gaza.
It claimed to have killed 25 "terrorists".
More than 100 Palestinians have been killed, many of them civilians, in Israeli air strikes and incursions since Palestinian militants kidnapped a young Israeli soldier more than a month ago.
The intense attacks on Lebanon have overshadowed the continuing violence in the Gaza Strip, the BBC's Arab affairs analyst Magdi Abdelhadi reports.
Mr Abbas and President Mubarak were due to look at ways to end the fighting.
Reports say that Mr Abbas is now working to revive an Egyptian proposal to secure the release of the captive Israeli soldier in return for Israel freeing Palestinian prisoners at a later stage.
Regional tour
Our correspondent says the Palestinian leader will have sought to refocus attention on the plight of his people at a time when the US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is also set to begin another visit the region again to discuss ways to end the fighting in Lebanon.
Mr Abbas met Dr Rice when she visited the West Bank earlier this week.
Mr Abbas's visit to Egypt is the start of a regional tour that will take him to Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states.
Israel is keeping up its offensive on Palestinian targets in the Gaza Strip, with air strikes on a suspected arms factory on Saturday.
A tunnel used by Palestinian militants was also bombed, the Israeli army said.
On Friday, the Israeli army withdrew from the area, following a two-day offensive which killed 29 Palestinians.
The renewed attacks come as Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas held brief talks with President Mubarak of Egypt to discuss proposal to end the violence.
There were no reports of casualties from the latest air raids.
Israeli ground forces were also reported to have launched a new incursion into northern Gaza, near the Erez crossing point.
Continuing campaign
In its earlier two-day operation, the Israeli army destroyed several buildings across the territory, killing two Palestinians, one a teenage boy.
The Israeli army says it attacked weapons facilities in four areas in a continuing campaign to weaken militant groups in Gaza.
It claimed to have killed 25 "terrorists".
More than 100 Palestinians have been killed, many of them civilians, in Israeli air strikes and incursions since Palestinian militants kidnapped a young Israeli soldier more than a month ago.
The intense attacks on Lebanon have overshadowed the continuing violence in the Gaza Strip, the BBC's Arab affairs analyst Magdi Abdelhadi reports.
Mr Abbas and President Mubarak were due to look at ways to end the fighting.
Reports say that Mr Abbas is now working to revive an Egyptian proposal to secure the release of the captive Israeli soldier in return for Israel freeing Palestinian prisoners at a later stage.
Regional tour
Our correspondent says the Palestinian leader will have sought to refocus attention on the plight of his people at a time when the US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is also set to begin another visit the region again to discuss ways to end the fighting in Lebanon.
Mr Abbas met Dr Rice when she visited the West Bank earlier this week.
Mr Abbas's visit to Egypt is the start of a regional tour that will take him to Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states.
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theone666
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Straw warning on Israeli action
Saturday, 29 July 2006, 23:02 GMT 00:02 UK
Israel's military action "could further destabilise the already fragile Lebanese nation", former Foreign Secretary Jack Straw has warned.
He said he backed Foreign Office Minister Kim Howells' comments that Israel's "disproportionate" action "only escalates a dangerous situation".
However, Commons leader Mr Straw said Israel, like any UN member, had a right to defend itself "proportionately".
His comments followed a meeting with Muslim community leaders in Blackburn.
In a statement issued after Wednesday's meeting, Mr Straw said he grieved equally "for all those innocent Israeli civilians killed in the conflict" and the "10 times as many innocent Lebanese, men women and children, killed by Israeli fire".
Mr Straw's spokesman said Downing Street was aware of the statement and the former foreign secretary had been talking to No 10 all this week.
Prime Minister Tony Blair has so far not criticised Israel's actions or called for an immediate ceasefire in the troubled Middle East.
He said on Saturday that there could not be a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah until "the conditions to allow that to happen" were in place.
He told the BBC it was "simply not correct" to say he and US President Bush had not made the call because they wanted Israel to win the conflict.
Mr Straw's statement said: "As I have seen for myself, people in the [Middle East] have lived in fear for too long, and we need a durable situation, which strengthens the forces of peace and democracy.
"Like any other member of the United Nations, Israel has clear rights to defend itself proportionately. Hezbollah must stop their rocket attacks on Haifa and agree to hand over the kidnapped Israeli soldiers."
He added: "As... Kim Howells has said, it is very difficult to understand the kind of military tactics used by Israel.
"They have not been 'surgical strikes' but have instead caused death and misery amongst innocent civilians.
"Kim was right to say if Israel are 'chasing Hezbollah, then go for Hezbollah... don't go for the entire Lebanese nation'."
The Israeli government has said that Israel is not interested in invading, conquering or occupying Lebanon, from where it withdrew troops in 2000.
It says its actions are aimed at removing Hezbollah from the region.
Israel's military action "could further destabilise the already fragile Lebanese nation", former Foreign Secretary Jack Straw has warned.
He said he backed Foreign Office Minister Kim Howells' comments that Israel's "disproportionate" action "only escalates a dangerous situation".
However, Commons leader Mr Straw said Israel, like any UN member, had a right to defend itself "proportionately".
His comments followed a meeting with Muslim community leaders in Blackburn.
In a statement issued after Wednesday's meeting, Mr Straw said he grieved equally "for all those innocent Israeli civilians killed in the conflict" and the "10 times as many innocent Lebanese, men women and children, killed by Israeli fire".
Mr Straw's spokesman said Downing Street was aware of the statement and the former foreign secretary had been talking to No 10 all this week.
Prime Minister Tony Blair has so far not criticised Israel's actions or called for an immediate ceasefire in the troubled Middle East.
He said on Saturday that there could not be a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah until "the conditions to allow that to happen" were in place.
He told the BBC it was "simply not correct" to say he and US President Bush had not made the call because they wanted Israel to win the conflict.
Mr Straw's statement said: "As I have seen for myself, people in the [Middle East] have lived in fear for too long, and we need a durable situation, which strengthens the forces of peace and democracy.
"Like any other member of the United Nations, Israel has clear rights to defend itself proportionately. Hezbollah must stop their rocket attacks on Haifa and agree to hand over the kidnapped Israeli soldiers."
He added: "As... Kim Howells has said, it is very difficult to understand the kind of military tactics used by Israel.
"They have not been 'surgical strikes' but have instead caused death and misery amongst innocent civilians.
"Kim was right to say if Israel are 'chasing Hezbollah, then go for Hezbollah... don't go for the entire Lebanese nation'."
The Israeli government has said that Israel is not interested in invading, conquering or occupying Lebanon, from where it withdrew troops in 2000.
It says its actions are aimed at removing Hezbollah from the region.
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theone666
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Blair defends decision on Lebanon
Saturday, 29 July 2006, 23:46 GMT 00:46 UK
Tony Blair has defended his decision not to call for an immediate Middle East ceasefire, but said he believed one could be achieved within days.
He said the violence could be stopped before an international force arrived at the Israel-Lebanon border.
But he said a truce could work only if it involved both Israel and Hezbollah.
He denied talk of a split within the Cabinet over his policy on the crisis, as it emerged Commons leader Jack Straw has criticised Israel's action.
The prime minister found support from Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell, who said he had been taking cabinet and party views into account.
Engaged in debate
She told BBC Radio Five Live Mr Blair had had a strong influence on diplomatic efforts to resolve the crisis and was not just following Washington's line.
"Tony Blair is very well aware of the strength of feeling both in the Parliamentary party and in the Labour Party about this. He is not shut off from it, he is engaged in debating and discussing that," she said.
Her comments came as it emerged former Foreign Secretary Jack Straw has warned that a continuation of Israeli military action in Lebanon "could further destabilise the already fragile Lebanese nation".
Mr Straw, in a statement issued following a meeting with Muslim community leaders in his Blackburn constituency, backed Foreign Office Minister Kim Howells, who last week described the Israeli action as "disproportionate".
In an interview with BBC political editor Nick Robinson in San Francisco, Mr Blair said as immediate ceasefire was not the solution to the crisis.
Agreement within days?
"If we can achieve a basis for a ceasefire that will allow Israel's security to be protected and the international community to be engaged in sorting out the south of Lebanon - so what was supposed to happen two years ago when these terrorist militias cleared out happens - then of course that's the right way to proceed," he said.
But he added for any truce to work, both Israel and Hezbollah had to be engaged in it.
"It cannot be that Israel stops taking the action it's taking but Hezbollah continue to kill, kidnap, and launch rockets into the north of Israel at the civilian population there," he said.
Mr Blair said if an agreement could be "endorsed by the governments of Israel and Lebanon" and could be "encapsulated in a UN resolution", the conflict could be stopped.
He added this "could happen in days if the international community is willing to act with the urgency I want it to act with".
Conference address
He added it was "simply not correct" to say he and US President Bush had not called for an immediate ceasefire because they wanted Israel to win the conflict.
The Israeli assault began after Hezbollah captured two Israeli soldiers and killed eight in a cross-border raid on 12 July.
Some 600 Lebanese, the majority civilians, have been confirmed killed in the conflict. Fifty-one Israelis, including at least 18 civilians, have been killed, mostly by Hezbollah rockets.
The prime minister, who held talks with President Bush at the White House on Friday, is now spending several days in California promoting his climate change plans and UK hi-tech business.
He is also due to attend a retreat on Sunday which is organised by publisher Rupert Murdoch's News International and hosted by Californian governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Asked if he was trying to persuade Mr Murdoch to lend his support to Labour again, Mr Blair said: "I think that's up to him."
"I should imagine it won't be anything I say that will determine that one way or another.
"But I think that the fact that you have a changed Labour Party today has meant that a lot of people including him, who previously thought of themselves as natural Conservatives, were prepared to back the Labour Party."
Tony Blair has defended his decision not to call for an immediate Middle East ceasefire, but said he believed one could be achieved within days.
He said the violence could be stopped before an international force arrived at the Israel-Lebanon border.
But he said a truce could work only if it involved both Israel and Hezbollah.
He denied talk of a split within the Cabinet over his policy on the crisis, as it emerged Commons leader Jack Straw has criticised Israel's action.
The prime minister found support from Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell, who said he had been taking cabinet and party views into account.
Engaged in debate
She told BBC Radio Five Live Mr Blair had had a strong influence on diplomatic efforts to resolve the crisis and was not just following Washington's line.
"Tony Blair is very well aware of the strength of feeling both in the Parliamentary party and in the Labour Party about this. He is not shut off from it, he is engaged in debating and discussing that," she said.
Her comments came as it emerged former Foreign Secretary Jack Straw has warned that a continuation of Israeli military action in Lebanon "could further destabilise the already fragile Lebanese nation".
Mr Straw, in a statement issued following a meeting with Muslim community leaders in his Blackburn constituency, backed Foreign Office Minister Kim Howells, who last week described the Israeli action as "disproportionate".
In an interview with BBC political editor Nick Robinson in San Francisco, Mr Blair said as immediate ceasefire was not the solution to the crisis.
Agreement within days?
"If we can achieve a basis for a ceasefire that will allow Israel's security to be protected and the international community to be engaged in sorting out the south of Lebanon - so what was supposed to happen two years ago when these terrorist militias cleared out happens - then of course that's the right way to proceed," he said.
But he added for any truce to work, both Israel and Hezbollah had to be engaged in it.
"It cannot be that Israel stops taking the action it's taking but Hezbollah continue to kill, kidnap, and launch rockets into the north of Israel at the civilian population there," he said.
Mr Blair said if an agreement could be "endorsed by the governments of Israel and Lebanon" and could be "encapsulated in a UN resolution", the conflict could be stopped.
He added this "could happen in days if the international community is willing to act with the urgency I want it to act with".
Conference address
He added it was "simply not correct" to say he and US President Bush had not called for an immediate ceasefire because they wanted Israel to win the conflict.
The Israeli assault began after Hezbollah captured two Israeli soldiers and killed eight in a cross-border raid on 12 July.
Some 600 Lebanese, the majority civilians, have been confirmed killed in the conflict. Fifty-one Israelis, including at least 18 civilians, have been killed, mostly by Hezbollah rockets.
The prime minister, who held talks with President Bush at the White House on Friday, is now spending several days in California promoting his climate change plans and UK hi-tech business.
He is also due to attend a retreat on Sunday which is organised by publisher Rupert Murdoch's News International and hosted by Californian governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Asked if he was trying to persuade Mr Murdoch to lend his support to Labour again, Mr Blair said: "I think that's up to him."
"I should imagine it won't be anything I say that will determine that one way or another.
"But I think that the fact that you have a changed Labour Party today has meant that a lot of people including him, who previously thought of themselves as natural Conservatives, were prepared to back the Labour Party."
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theone666
- Major [O-4]
- Posts: 1434
- Joined: Mon Nov 21, 2005 5:00 am
Israel raid closes key crossing
Saturday, 29 July 2006, 20:57 GMT 21:57 UK
An Israeli air strike has closed the main border crossing from Lebanon into Syria, witnesses and officials say.
Missiles hit the road between the two states' immigration posts, but on the Lebanese side, the reports said.
A separate strike wounded two UN monitors in their observation post, the UN said, days after four were killed.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has returned to the region for fresh talks set to focus on bringing in a larger international peace force.
Deployment of the force is expected to be discussed by world leaders at a meeting at the UN headquarters in New York on Monday.
Ms Rice is expected to talk to both Israeli and Lebanese leaders about the proposals during her visit to the region.
She arrived in Jerusalem saying that she was about to enter intensive difficult negotiations that would require hard and emotional decisions for both Lebanon and Israel, says the BBC's Jonathan Beale, who is travelling with the US secretary of state.
But Ms Rice refused to spell out what that would involve, our state department correspondent says.
The US has already stated that it expects Lebanon's government to take steps to rein in Hezbollah.
Less clear, though, is how Israel will fulfil its side of the bargain, our correspondent says.
Israeli officials have indicated to the BBC that Israel may be willing to stop fighting as soon as a UN resolution is passed next week - before the arrival of any new peace force - and that they will not insist on Hezbollah disarming first.
They insist, however, that such a force must have the authority to disarm Hezbollah and cut off its weapons supplies.
But even before the latest UN casualties, the UN had warned that the deaths of the four monitors could deter countries from contributing to the proposed peacekeeping force.
UN deputy chief Mark Malloch-Brown also said the organisation still had "serious concerns" about the incident, which happened despite repeated UN pleas for the Israelis to stop firing.
Casualties mount
The UN says some 600 people - about a third of them children - have been killed by Israeli action in Lebanon.
They include a mother and her five children killed in a new wave of Israeli air raids in southern Lebanon, Lebanese medics said. Israel said it was investigating.
On Saturday Israeli forces withdrew from the southern Lebanese village of Bint Jbeil - a Hezbollah stronghold - which they had been trying to take for some days and where they sustained their heaviest one-day losses since the campaign began.
Hezbollah has continued firing hundreds of rockets into Israel - several hit the northern Israel town of Safed on Saturday.
In a new message, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said more central Israeli cities would be targeted if the Israeli offensive continued.
A total of 51 Israelis, including at least 18 civilians, have been killed during the conflict.
The Israeli assault began after Hezbollah captured two Israeli soldiers and killed eight in a cross-border raid on 12 July.
Meanwhile, Israeli military sources have indicated that the fighting could intensify.
Earlier, Israel rejected a UN call for a three-day truce in southern Lebanon.
The UN said children, the elderly and disabled people were trapped and supplies were short, but Israel said there was no need for a truce as a humanitarian corridor to the area had been opened.
An Israeli air strike has closed the main border crossing from Lebanon into Syria, witnesses and officials say.
Missiles hit the road between the two states' immigration posts, but on the Lebanese side, the reports said.
A separate strike wounded two UN monitors in their observation post, the UN said, days after four were killed.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has returned to the region for fresh talks set to focus on bringing in a larger international peace force.
Deployment of the force is expected to be discussed by world leaders at a meeting at the UN headquarters in New York on Monday.
Ms Rice is expected to talk to both Israeli and Lebanese leaders about the proposals during her visit to the region.
She arrived in Jerusalem saying that she was about to enter intensive difficult negotiations that would require hard and emotional decisions for both Lebanon and Israel, says the BBC's Jonathan Beale, who is travelling with the US secretary of state.
But Ms Rice refused to spell out what that would involve, our state department correspondent says.
The US has already stated that it expects Lebanon's government to take steps to rein in Hezbollah.
Less clear, though, is how Israel will fulfil its side of the bargain, our correspondent says.
Israeli officials have indicated to the BBC that Israel may be willing to stop fighting as soon as a UN resolution is passed next week - before the arrival of any new peace force - and that they will not insist on Hezbollah disarming first.
They insist, however, that such a force must have the authority to disarm Hezbollah and cut off its weapons supplies.
But even before the latest UN casualties, the UN had warned that the deaths of the four monitors could deter countries from contributing to the proposed peacekeeping force.
UN deputy chief Mark Malloch-Brown also said the organisation still had "serious concerns" about the incident, which happened despite repeated UN pleas for the Israelis to stop firing.
Casualties mount
The UN says some 600 people - about a third of them children - have been killed by Israeli action in Lebanon.
They include a mother and her five children killed in a new wave of Israeli air raids in southern Lebanon, Lebanese medics said. Israel said it was investigating.
On Saturday Israeli forces withdrew from the southern Lebanese village of Bint Jbeil - a Hezbollah stronghold - which they had been trying to take for some days and where they sustained their heaviest one-day losses since the campaign began.
Hezbollah has continued firing hundreds of rockets into Israel - several hit the northern Israel town of Safed on Saturday.
In a new message, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said more central Israeli cities would be targeted if the Israeli offensive continued.
A total of 51 Israelis, including at least 18 civilians, have been killed during the conflict.
The Israeli assault began after Hezbollah captured two Israeli soldiers and killed eight in a cross-border raid on 12 July.
Meanwhile, Israeli military sources have indicated that the fighting could intensify.
Earlier, Israel rejected a UN call for a three-day truce in southern Lebanon.
The UN said children, the elderly and disabled people were trapped and supplies were short, but Israel said there was no need for a truce as a humanitarian corridor to the area had been opened.
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theone666
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Hezbollah Threatens Attacks in Central Israel
By ZEINA KARAM, AP
TYRE, Lebanon (July 29) - Hezbollah's leader on Saturday threatened more attacks on central Israeli cities, a day after guerrillas for the first time fired a rocket powerful enough to reach the outskirts of Tel Aviv.
Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, speaking on Hezbollah's TV station, said he supported Lebanon's efforts to negotiate a peace deal, but suggested tentative promises for the guerrillas to disarm would be off if conditions aren't met.
Nasrallah also dismissed a new diplomatic effort by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to bring about cease-fire, saying the United States wants fighting to continue. His statement came as Rice arrived in the Mideast to visit Israel; a possible Lebanon stop has not been announced.
The bearded Shiite Muslim cleric, wearing his trademark black headdress, insisted Hezbollah fighters were winning the battle with Israel, now in its 18th day. Israel has not made a "single military accomplishment" in its offensive on Lebanon, he said, speaking on the group's Al-Manar television.
"No matter how long the war lasts, whatever sacrifices it takes, we are ready. We will not be broken or defeated," he said.
"Many cities in the center (of Israel) will be targeted ... if the savage aggression continues on our country, people and villages."
On Friday, a Hezbollah rocket hit outside the Israeli town of Afula, the farthest strike yet. Hezbollah said it targeted an Israeli military base, but the rockets fell in an empty field.
"The bombardment of Afula and its military base is the beginning ..., Nasrallah said. "Many cities in the center (of Israel) will be targeted in the 'beyond Haifa' stage if the savage aggression continues on our country, people and villages."
He was referring to his earlier threat to attack deeper into Israel than Haifa, which has been hit repeatedly in the recent conflict.
Nasrallah said Hezbollah was willing to cooperate with the Lebanese government. He did not mention a Lebanese peace plan calling for guerrilla disarmament specifically, but suggested Hezbollah would not disarm if the government backs away from conditions outlined in its proposal.
Most notably, the proposals demand a prisoner swap with Israel and the resolution of Lebanese claims on border land that Israel controls. Israel has ruled out a prisoner swap but has not said whether it would be willing to reconsider its hold on the Chebaa farms area.
Meanwhile, Israeli troops pulled back from a border town Saturday after a week of heavy fighting with Hezbollah guerrillas, and warplanes killed a woman and her five children in a strike that leveled their home.
Rice said she was encouraged by a tentative Hezbollah commitment to allow international troops into southern Lebanon and eventually disarm. She met with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert in Jerusalem Saturday evening, and was expected to stop in Lebanon though no visit was announced.
She said compromises will be needed from everyone.
"These are really hard and emotional decisions for both sides, under extreme pressure in a difficult set of circumstances," Rice said. "And so I expect the discussions to be difficult but there will have to be give-and-take."
Despite its intense bombardment of Lebanon - and heavy ground fighting near the border - Israel has been unable to stop barrages of hundreds of Hezbollah rockets. Guerrillas fired at least 90 rockets into Israel Saturday, lightly injuring five people.
On Saturday, Israel made its closest strike to Hezbollah ally Syria yet. Warplanes hit the Lebanese side of a Syrian-Lebanese border crossing, forcing the closure of the main transit point for refugees fleeing and humanitarian aid entering Lebanon.
On the Lebanon-Israel border, an Israeli strike hit near a U.N. peacekeepers' station, wounding two. The world body had just relocated unarmed U.N. observers to the peacekeepers' posts for safety, after a strike Tuesday killed four.
Throughout, Lebanese civilians have suffered the most from the fighting, which erupted after Hezbollah kidnapped two Israeli soldiers and killed one in a cross-border raid July 12.
AP-NY-07-29-06 1402EDT
TYRE, Lebanon (July 29) - Hezbollah's leader on Saturday threatened more attacks on central Israeli cities, a day after guerrillas for the first time fired a rocket powerful enough to reach the outskirts of Tel Aviv.
Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, speaking on Hezbollah's TV station, said he supported Lebanon's efforts to negotiate a peace deal, but suggested tentative promises for the guerrillas to disarm would be off if conditions aren't met.
Nasrallah also dismissed a new diplomatic effort by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to bring about cease-fire, saying the United States wants fighting to continue. His statement came as Rice arrived in the Mideast to visit Israel; a possible Lebanon stop has not been announced.
The bearded Shiite Muslim cleric, wearing his trademark black headdress, insisted Hezbollah fighters were winning the battle with Israel, now in its 18th day. Israel has not made a "single military accomplishment" in its offensive on Lebanon, he said, speaking on the group's Al-Manar television.
"No matter how long the war lasts, whatever sacrifices it takes, we are ready. We will not be broken or defeated," he said.
"Many cities in the center (of Israel) will be targeted ... if the savage aggression continues on our country, people and villages."
On Friday, a Hezbollah rocket hit outside the Israeli town of Afula, the farthest strike yet. Hezbollah said it targeted an Israeli military base, but the rockets fell in an empty field.
"The bombardment of Afula and its military base is the beginning ..., Nasrallah said. "Many cities in the center (of Israel) will be targeted in the 'beyond Haifa' stage if the savage aggression continues on our country, people and villages."
He was referring to his earlier threat to attack deeper into Israel than Haifa, which has been hit repeatedly in the recent conflict.
Nasrallah said Hezbollah was willing to cooperate with the Lebanese government. He did not mention a Lebanese peace plan calling for guerrilla disarmament specifically, but suggested Hezbollah would not disarm if the government backs away from conditions outlined in its proposal.
Most notably, the proposals demand a prisoner swap with Israel and the resolution of Lebanese claims on border land that Israel controls. Israel has ruled out a prisoner swap but has not said whether it would be willing to reconsider its hold on the Chebaa farms area.
Meanwhile, Israeli troops pulled back from a border town Saturday after a week of heavy fighting with Hezbollah guerrillas, and warplanes killed a woman and her five children in a strike that leveled their home.
Rice said she was encouraged by a tentative Hezbollah commitment to allow international troops into southern Lebanon and eventually disarm. She met with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert in Jerusalem Saturday evening, and was expected to stop in Lebanon though no visit was announced.
She said compromises will be needed from everyone.
"These are really hard and emotional decisions for both sides, under extreme pressure in a difficult set of circumstances," Rice said. "And so I expect the discussions to be difficult but there will have to be give-and-take."
Despite its intense bombardment of Lebanon - and heavy ground fighting near the border - Israel has been unable to stop barrages of hundreds of Hezbollah rockets. Guerrillas fired at least 90 rockets into Israel Saturday, lightly injuring five people.
On Saturday, Israel made its closest strike to Hezbollah ally Syria yet. Warplanes hit the Lebanese side of a Syrian-Lebanese border crossing, forcing the closure of the main transit point for refugees fleeing and humanitarian aid entering Lebanon.
On the Lebanon-Israel border, an Israeli strike hit near a U.N. peacekeepers' station, wounding two. The world body had just relocated unarmed U.N. observers to the peacekeepers' posts for safety, after a strike Tuesday killed four.
Throughout, Lebanese civilians have suffered the most from the fighting, which erupted after Hezbollah kidnapped two Israeli soldiers and killed one in a cross-border raid July 12.
AP-NY-07-29-06 1402EDT
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theone666
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Blair denies split on Middle East
Sunday, 30 July 2006, 10:31 GMT 11:31 UK
Tony Blair has rejected the suggestion there is a Cabinet split over the Middle East crisis, as it emerged Commons leader Jack Straw has attacked Israel's "disproportionate" offensive.
Mr Straw - foreign secretary before May's reshuffle - said Israel risked escalating a dangerous situation.
He said a ceasefire could be achieved within days if the international community acted with urgency.
Downing Street said Mr Blair would not endorse or criticise the remarks.
The prime minister's official spokesman insisted Mr Blair - who is in California meeting business leaders - was focusing his energies on solving the problems in Lebanon and wished to retain his influence.
In his statement, Mr Straw warned that a continuation of Israeli military action in Lebanon "could further destabilise the already fragile Lebanese nation".
Mr Straw backed Foreign Office Minister Kim Howells - who last weekend described the Israeli action as "disproportionate" - while adding that Israel had a right to defend itself "proportionately".
In addition, newspaper reports on Sunday suggested ministers have pressed Mr Blair to break with the US position and condemn Israel's response.
However, the Lord Chancellor Lord Falconer said there had been a "non-divisive discussion" about the way forward in the crisis at a Cabinet meeting on Thursday.
"We are all as supportive as we can be of trying to bring the thing to an end," he told the BBC's News 24 Sunday programme.
"I've read what Jack says and Jack gives a balanced account of what's going on and he says, like all of us, we're looking for a durable ceasefire that has some prospect of lasting."
The Cabinet was united behind achieving "a ceasefire right across the area that stops the appalling things that we're seeing", he added.
'United'
Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett called Sunday's Israeli strike on Lebanon in which 21 children died, "appalling".
However she told Sky News that the Cabinet was not divided over not calling for a ceasefire.
"There's not a single person in the Cabinet who is not desperately anxious about the situation...and agonising over whether we are in fact doing everything we can.
"Everyone is united on that point of view round the Cabinet table as they are in the international community right around the world."
Mr Blair has come under pressure from within his own party for not calling for an immediate ceasefire in southern Lebanon, but said that was not the solution to the crisis.
"If we can achieve a basis for a ceasefire that will allow Israel's security to be protected and the international community to be engaged in sorting out the south of Lebanon... then of course that's the right way to proceed," he told BBC political editor Nick Robinson.
But, he added, for any truce to work both Israel and Hezbollah had to be engaged in it.
"It cannot be that Israel stops taking the action it's taking but Hezbollah continue to kill, kidnap, and launch rockets into the north of Israel at the civilian population there," he said.
He wants the UN to agree a resolution to end the fighting, and send an international force of peacekeepers to southern Lebanon.
'Majority view'
Mr Blair said if an agreement could be "endorsed by the governments of Israel and Lebanon" and could be "encapsulated in a UN resolution", the conflict could be stopped.
He added this "could happen in days if the international community is willing to act with the urgency I want it to act with".
When asked if the events in the Middle East put Britons in danger of further terrorist attack, Mr Blair responded: "When people stand up and fight, people will come after you."
Labour MP David Winnick welcomed Mr Straw's public criticism of the Israeli response.
"I think these comments reflect the majority view in the Parliamentary party, including ministers.
"Perhaps more importantly it's the view in the country at large."
He added that "sensible people" had no time for Hezbollah, but Tel Aviv's actions were merely encouraging extremists.
The Israeli assault began after Hezbollah captured two Israeli soldiers and killed eight in a cross-border raid on 12 July.
Some 600 Lebanese, the majority civilians, have been confirmed killed in the conflict. Fifty-one Israelis, including at least 18 civilians, have been killed, mostly by Hezbollah rockets.
The prime minister, who held talks with President Bush at the White House on Friday, is now spending several days in California promoting his climate change plans and UK hi-tech business.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/5227912.stm
Tony Blair has rejected the suggestion there is a Cabinet split over the Middle East crisis, as it emerged Commons leader Jack Straw has attacked Israel's "disproportionate" offensive.
Mr Straw - foreign secretary before May's reshuffle - said Israel risked escalating a dangerous situation.
He said a ceasefire could be achieved within days if the international community acted with urgency.
Downing Street said Mr Blair would not endorse or criticise the remarks.
The prime minister's official spokesman insisted Mr Blair - who is in California meeting business leaders - was focusing his energies on solving the problems in Lebanon and wished to retain his influence.
In his statement, Mr Straw warned that a continuation of Israeli military action in Lebanon "could further destabilise the already fragile Lebanese nation".
Mr Straw backed Foreign Office Minister Kim Howells - who last weekend described the Israeli action as "disproportionate" - while adding that Israel had a right to defend itself "proportionately".
In addition, newspaper reports on Sunday suggested ministers have pressed Mr Blair to break with the US position and condemn Israel's response.
However, the Lord Chancellor Lord Falconer said there had been a "non-divisive discussion" about the way forward in the crisis at a Cabinet meeting on Thursday.
"We are all as supportive as we can be of trying to bring the thing to an end," he told the BBC's News 24 Sunday programme.
"I've read what Jack says and Jack gives a balanced account of what's going on and he says, like all of us, we're looking for a durable ceasefire that has some prospect of lasting."
The Cabinet was united behind achieving "a ceasefire right across the area that stops the appalling things that we're seeing", he added.
'United'
Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett called Sunday's Israeli strike on Lebanon in which 21 children died, "appalling".
However she told Sky News that the Cabinet was not divided over not calling for a ceasefire.
"There's not a single person in the Cabinet who is not desperately anxious about the situation...and agonising over whether we are in fact doing everything we can.
"Everyone is united on that point of view round the Cabinet table as they are in the international community right around the world."
Mr Blair has come under pressure from within his own party for not calling for an immediate ceasefire in southern Lebanon, but said that was not the solution to the crisis.
"If we can achieve a basis for a ceasefire that will allow Israel's security to be protected and the international community to be engaged in sorting out the south of Lebanon... then of course that's the right way to proceed," he told BBC political editor Nick Robinson.
But, he added, for any truce to work both Israel and Hezbollah had to be engaged in it.
"It cannot be that Israel stops taking the action it's taking but Hezbollah continue to kill, kidnap, and launch rockets into the north of Israel at the civilian population there," he said.
He wants the UN to agree a resolution to end the fighting, and send an international force of peacekeepers to southern Lebanon.
'Majority view'
Mr Blair said if an agreement could be "endorsed by the governments of Israel and Lebanon" and could be "encapsulated in a UN resolution", the conflict could be stopped.
He added this "could happen in days if the international community is willing to act with the urgency I want it to act with".
When asked if the events in the Middle East put Britons in danger of further terrorist attack, Mr Blair responded: "When people stand up and fight, people will come after you."
Labour MP David Winnick welcomed Mr Straw's public criticism of the Israeli response.
"I think these comments reflect the majority view in the Parliamentary party, including ministers.
"Perhaps more importantly it's the view in the country at large."
He added that "sensible people" had no time for Hezbollah, but Tel Aviv's actions were merely encouraging extremists.
The Israeli assault began after Hezbollah captured two Israeli soldiers and killed eight in a cross-border raid on 12 July.
Some 600 Lebanese, the majority civilians, have been confirmed killed in the conflict. Fifty-one Israelis, including at least 18 civilians, have been killed, mostly by Hezbollah rockets.
The prime minister, who held talks with President Bush at the White House on Friday, is now spending several days in California promoting his climate change plans and UK hi-tech business.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/5227912.stm