By KATHY GANNON, AP
QANA, Lebanon (AP) - Israeli missiles hit several buildings in a southern Lebanon village as people slept Sunday, killing at least 56, most of them children, in the deadliest attack in 19 days of fighting.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert expressed "great sorrow" for the airstrikes but blamed Hezbollah guerrillas for using the area to launch rockets at Israel, and said he would not halt the army's operation.
The Lebanese Red Cross said the airstrike in Qana, in which at least 34 children were killed, pushed the overall Lebanese death toll to more than 500. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice postponed a visit to Lebanon in a setback for diplomatic efforts to end hostilities. She was to return to the U.S. Monday morning, abruptly breaking off her diplomatic mission in the Mideast.
Before the airstrike, Olmert told Rice he needed 10-14 days to finish the offensive in Lebanon, according to a senior Israeli government official. The two said they would meet again Sunday evening.
"We will not stop this battle, despite the difficult incidents this morning," Olmert said said during Israel's weekly Cabinet meeting, according to a participant in the meeting. "We will continue the activity and if necessary it will be broadened without hesitation."
U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan called an emergency Security Council meeting Sunday at the request of Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Saniora
The council was expected to discuss a French-sponsored draft resolution spelling out a series of steps meant to resolve the crisis, including an immediate halt to fighting.
Rice said she had called Saniora to postpone her visit to Lebanon; angry Lebanese officials said it was their government that called off the meeting.
Israeli said it targeted Qana because it was a base for hundreds of rockets launched at Israeli, including 40 that injured five Israelis on Sunday. Israel said it had warned civilians several days before to leave the village.
"One must understand the Hezbollah is using their own civilian population as human shields," said Israeli Foreign Ministry official Gideon Meir. "The Israeli defense forces dropped leaflets and warned the civilian population to leave the place because the Hezbollah turned it into a war zone."
Rescuers aided by villagers dug through the rubble by hand. At least 20 bodies wrapped in white sheets were taken away, including 10 children. A row of houses lay in ruins, and an old woman was carried away on a plastic chair.
Villagers said many of the dead were from four families who had taken refuge in on the ground floor of a three-story building, believing they would be safe from bombings.
"We want this to stop!" shouted Mohammed Ismail, a middle-aged man pulling away at the rubble in search for bodies, his brown pants covered in dust. "May God have mercy on the children. They came here to escape the fighting."
"They are hitting children to bring the fighters to their knees," he said.
Rice said she was "deeply saddened by the terrible loss of innocent life" in Israel's attack. But she did not call for an immediate cease-fire in the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah militias.
"We all recognize this kind of warfare is extremely difficult," Rice said, noting it comes in areas where civilians live. "It unfortunately has awful consequences sometimes."
"We want a cease-fire as soon as possible," she added.
The United States and Israel are pressing for a settlement that addresses enduring issues between Lebanon and Israel and disables Hezbollah - not the quick truce favored by most world leaders.
Saniora said Lebanon would be open only to an immediate cease-fire.
"There is no place at this sad moment for any discussions other than an immediate and unconditional cease-fire as well as international investigation of the Israeli massacres in Lebanon now," he told reporters Sunday.
More than 5,000 people protested in central Beirut, denouncing Israel and the United States, some chanting, "Destroy Tel Aviv, destroy Tel Aviv." A few broke car windows and tried briefly to break into the main U.N. building until political leaders called for a halt to damage.
Lebanese Defense Minister Elias Murr questioned Israel's claim that Hezbollah fired rockets from the village. "What do you expect Israel to say? Will it say that it killed 40 children and women?" he told Al-Jazeera television.
Qana, in the hills east of the southern port city of Tyre, has a bloody history. In 1996, Israeli artillery killed more than 100 civilians who had taken refuge at a U.N. base in the village. That attack sparked an international outcry that helped end an Israeli offensive.
Sunday's attack drew swift condemnation from several world leaders.
French President Jacques Chirac's office said "France condemns this unjustifiable action, which shows more than ever the need to move toward an immediate cease-fire."
Jordan's King Abdullah II condemned "the ugly crime perpetrated by Israeli forces in Qana."
Lebanese officials said most of their citizens slain in the conflict have been civilians. Thirty-three Israeli soldiers have died, and Hezbollah rocket attacks on northern Israel have killed 18 civilians.
Fighting also broke out between guerrillas and Israeli soldiers in a zone called the Taibeh Project area, about 2 miles inside Lebanon. The Israeli army said one soldier was wounded. Hezbollah's al-Manar TV claimed two Israeli soldiers were killed.
Heavy artillery rained down on the villages of Yuhmor and Arnoun, close to Taibeh. In northern Israel, rockets fell on Nahariya, Kiryat Shemona and an area close to Maalot, the army said.
Israel has said it would launch a series of limited ground incursions into Lebanon to push back guerrillas, rather than carry out a full-fledged invasion. Israeli troops pulled back Saturday from the town of Bint Jbail, suggesting the thrust, launched a week ago, had halted.
But Lebanese officials reported a massing of troops and 12 tanks near the Israeli town of Metulla further to the northeast, on the tip of the Galilee Panhandle near the Golan Heights, suggesting another incursion could begin soon.
The Security Council has yet to take a stance on the fighting, in part because the United States has not called for a cessation of hostilities.
The French draft circulated also seeks a wide new buffer zone in south Lebanon free of Israeli and Hezbollah forces and monitored by international forces and the Lebanese army.
British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett said the strike on Qana was a "tragedy" but stopped short of calling for a cease-fire.
A peace package Rice brought to the region called for a U.N.-mandated multinational force that can help stabilize in the region, according to a U.S. official speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the discussions.
It also proposes: disarming Hezbollah and integrating the guerrilla force into the Lebanese army; Hezbollah's return of Israeli prisoners; a buffer zone in southern Lebanon to put Hezbollah rockets out of range of Israel; a commitment to resolve the status of a piece of land held by Israel and claimed by Lebanon; and the creation of an international reconstruction plan for Lebanon.
The latter two provisions resembled parts of a proposal by Lebanon's government. But they fell short of Hezbollah's demands, including a prisoner swap to free Lebanese held for years in Israeli prisons and the disputed land, known as Chebaa farms, put under U.N. supervision until its status can be resolved.
Associated Press Writer Katherine Shrader in Jerusalem contributed to this story.
07/30/06 10:46 EDT
CRISIS in the MIDDLE EAST
Moderators: Cell_Leader, ikaotiki, Julstar
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theone666
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Blair calls for speedy ceasefire
Sunday, 30 July 2006, 22:49 GMT 23:49 UK
Tony Blair has called for a ceasefire "as soon as possible" following an Israeli air strike which killed more than 50 people in a Lebanese village.
In a joint statement with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Mr Blair said there was a need to work with the United Nations to bring about peace.
The statement said the tragic events underlined the "urgency of the need for a ceasefire as soon as possible".
Most of those who died in the strike on the village of Qana were children.
The UN Security Council has held emergency talks about the crisis. Secretary General Kofi Annan urged the Council to condemn the attack on Qana.
And he repeated his call for an immediate end to the hostilities.
The joint statement by the British and German leaders read: "The tragic events of today have underlined the urgency of the need for a ceasefire as soon as possible.
"It is now necessary to work in New York on the preconditions for such a ceasefire, which is a political agreement based on the full implementation of Resolution 1559."
Resolution 1559, from September 2004, called for the disbanding of Hezbollah as a militia and the extension of Lebanese government control to the border with Israel.
As well as talking to Ms Merkel, the prime minister has spoken again to US President George W Bush and the Lebanese prime minister.
Resolution call
Downing Street sources said Mr Blair wants to find out whether the Lebanese government as a whole would agree to a UN resolution providing for a ceasefire.
Earlier, Mr Blair told reporters: "What has happened at Qana shows that this is a situation that simply cannot continue.
"I think there is a basis for an agreement that will allow us to get a UN resolution, but we have to get this now.
"We have to speed this entire process up, get a resolution now and on the passing and agreement of that resolution then the hostilities have got to stop and stop on both sides."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/5229920.stm
Tony Blair has called for a ceasefire "as soon as possible" following an Israeli air strike which killed more than 50 people in a Lebanese village.
In a joint statement with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Mr Blair said there was a need to work with the United Nations to bring about peace.
The statement said the tragic events underlined the "urgency of the need for a ceasefire as soon as possible".
Most of those who died in the strike on the village of Qana were children.
The UN Security Council has held emergency talks about the crisis. Secretary General Kofi Annan urged the Council to condemn the attack on Qana.
And he repeated his call for an immediate end to the hostilities.
The joint statement by the British and German leaders read: "The tragic events of today have underlined the urgency of the need for a ceasefire as soon as possible.
"It is now necessary to work in New York on the preconditions for such a ceasefire, which is a political agreement based on the full implementation of Resolution 1559."
Resolution 1559, from September 2004, called for the disbanding of Hezbollah as a militia and the extension of Lebanese government control to the border with Israel.
As well as talking to Ms Merkel, the prime minister has spoken again to US President George W Bush and the Lebanese prime minister.
Resolution call
Downing Street sources said Mr Blair wants to find out whether the Lebanese government as a whole would agree to a UN resolution providing for a ceasefire.
Earlier, Mr Blair told reporters: "What has happened at Qana shows that this is a situation that simply cannot continue.
"I think there is a basis for an agreement that will allow us to get a UN resolution, but we have to get this now.
"We have to speed this entire process up, get a resolution now and on the passing and agreement of that resolution then the hostilities have got to stop and stop on both sides."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/5229920.stm
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Israel halts fire for Qana probe
Monday, 31 July 2006, 01:33 GMT 02:33 UK
Israel has agreed an immediate 48-hour suspension of air strikes over southern Lebanon to allow an investigation into the death of more than 50 civilians.
The announcement came after intensive talks between US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Israeli officials.
More than 30 children died in Sunday's Qana attack - the deadliest Israeli raid since hostilities began on 12 July when two Israeli soldiers were seized.
The UN Security Council has agreed a statement deploring the loss of life.
The statement, approved unanimously by the 15-member council after hours of talks, expressed "extreme shock and distress" at the deaths.
However, the statement did not call for an immediate ceasefire, despite an earlier appeal by the UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan.
The strike has drawn strong international condemnation and, correspondents say, given a new urgency to diplomatic efforts to resolve the crisis.
But the US is still resisting calls for an immediate ceasefire.
Hezbollah militants have vowed to retaliate after the Qana attack.
Several Katyusha rockets hit the Israeli border town of Kiryat Shemona on Sunday, wounding several people, in what residents described as the worst day so far.
Lebanon's health minister says about 750 people - mainly civilians - have been killed by Israeli action.
A total of 51 Israelis, including at least 18 civilians, have been killed in the conflict.
'Heinous'
Israel's ambassador to the UN, Dan Gillerman, told the BBC the suspension would allow time for a probe and for civilians to leave the area.
"We're doing this in order to allow a full investigation into what happened in Qana, " he said, "and also in order to create a window for the UN to evacuate people from southern Lebanon, who want to leave southern Lebanon."
However, Israel is reserving the right to take action against any targets it says are preparing attacks against it.
The Israeli strike on Qana early on Sunday killed displaced civilians sheltering in the basement of a three-storey house.
Old people, women and children were among those killed.
Reporters spoke of survivors screaming in grief and anger, as some scrabbled through the debris with bare hands.
"Why have they attacked one- and two-year-old children and defenceless women?" said a man who lost family members.
Israel said it had warned civilians to flee, but the BBC's Jim Muir, in Qana, says many did not have the means - or were too frightened - to flee.
Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora denounced Israel's "heinous crimes against civilians".
Israeli military officials showed aerial film, taken on Friday, which they said showed Katyusha missiles being fired from near Qana, and a launcher being hidden in a house there.
"If there were no Hezbollah this would never have happened," said Mr Gillerman.
Correspondents say Qana holds bitter memories for the Lebanese.
It was the site of an Israeli bombing of a UN base in 1996 that killed more than 100 people sheltering there during Israel's "Grapes of Wrath" offensive, which was also aimed at destroying Hezbollah.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/mid...st/5229932.stm
Israel has agreed an immediate 48-hour suspension of air strikes over southern Lebanon to allow an investigation into the death of more than 50 civilians.
The announcement came after intensive talks between US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Israeli officials.
More than 30 children died in Sunday's Qana attack - the deadliest Israeli raid since hostilities began on 12 July when two Israeli soldiers were seized.
The UN Security Council has agreed a statement deploring the loss of life.
The statement, approved unanimously by the 15-member council after hours of talks, expressed "extreme shock and distress" at the deaths.
However, the statement did not call for an immediate ceasefire, despite an earlier appeal by the UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan.
The strike has drawn strong international condemnation and, correspondents say, given a new urgency to diplomatic efforts to resolve the crisis.
But the US is still resisting calls for an immediate ceasefire.
Hezbollah militants have vowed to retaliate after the Qana attack.
Several Katyusha rockets hit the Israeli border town of Kiryat Shemona on Sunday, wounding several people, in what residents described as the worst day so far.
Lebanon's health minister says about 750 people - mainly civilians - have been killed by Israeli action.
A total of 51 Israelis, including at least 18 civilians, have been killed in the conflict.
'Heinous'
Israel's ambassador to the UN, Dan Gillerman, told the BBC the suspension would allow time for a probe and for civilians to leave the area.
"We're doing this in order to allow a full investigation into what happened in Qana, " he said, "and also in order to create a window for the UN to evacuate people from southern Lebanon, who want to leave southern Lebanon."
However, Israel is reserving the right to take action against any targets it says are preparing attacks against it.
The Israeli strike on Qana early on Sunday killed displaced civilians sheltering in the basement of a three-storey house.
Old people, women and children were among those killed.
Reporters spoke of survivors screaming in grief and anger, as some scrabbled through the debris with bare hands.
"Why have they attacked one- and two-year-old children and defenceless women?" said a man who lost family members.
Israel said it had warned civilians to flee, but the BBC's Jim Muir, in Qana, says many did not have the means - or were too frightened - to flee.
Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora denounced Israel's "heinous crimes against civilians".
Israeli military officials showed aerial film, taken on Friday, which they said showed Katyusha missiles being fired from near Qana, and a launcher being hidden in a house there.
"If there were no Hezbollah this would never have happened," said Mr Gillerman.
Correspondents say Qana holds bitter memories for the Lebanese.
It was the site of an Israeli bombing of a UN base in 1996 that killed more than 100 people sheltering there during Israel's "Grapes of Wrath" offensive, which was also aimed at destroying Hezbollah.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/mid...st/5229932.stm
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Reporters describe carnage at Qana
Sunday, 30 July 2006, 14:53 GMT 15:53 UK
Reports from the southern Lebanese town of Qana have described a scene of carnage, with rescue workers continuing to pull bodies from the ruins of a civilian building.
Early on Sunday morning, as BBC correspondents arrived at the site of the deadliest Israeli strike so far in this conflict, frantic efforts to find survivors were already under way.
Displaced families had been sheltering in the basement of a house in Qana, which was crushed after a direct hit.
The Israeli strike killed at least 54 people, more than half of them children.
The BBC's Jim Muir said that for some of the rescuers, experienced as they were, the emotional impact of finding so many dead children in the ruins was too much.
"As I arrived, they were carrying out on a stretcher the limp body of a young boy of about 10. Many other children were pulled out of the rubble lifeless," our correspondent said.
"That's a Red Cross rescue worker sitting here in the sunshine just sobbing - he's so overcome with emotion here," he added.
'Desperate operation'
The BBC's Fergal Keane got an immediate sense of the destructive impact of the attack even before reaching the missile crater.
"As we drove into the town we saw ambulances coming against us and then at the scene numerous rescue workers from the Lebanese Red Cross and the local civil defence trying to organise, pretty desperately, a rescue operation," our correspondent said.
His early assessment of the casualties was borne out by events: "The number of wounded seems to be quite small and that indicates that very, very few people survived this strike."
Jim Muir had travelled to Qana along the road from Tyre, and and said the route had been pitted with bomb craters.
He added: "The three storey building where families have been sheltering in the basement was crushed sideways into an enormous crater by the Israeli bomb strike - a site all too familiar throughout south Lebanon today.
"Elsewhere in Qana and along the road up from Tyre, many buildings had been similarly crushed."
Only about a tenth of residents are estimated to remain in Qana, which has been subjected to heavy bombardment by Israeli forces in their conflict with the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.
Those with cars, petrol and the other means to leave have gone, and those left behind tend to be the poor and vulnerable.
The dangers of further bombardment meant that it was not safe for the BBC crews to stay longer than a few minutes in Qana.
Israeli warplanes could be heard flying around the area, and there were many explosions in the middle distance.
Reports from the southern Lebanese town of Qana have described a scene of carnage, with rescue workers continuing to pull bodies from the ruins of a civilian building.
Early on Sunday morning, as BBC correspondents arrived at the site of the deadliest Israeli strike so far in this conflict, frantic efforts to find survivors were already under way.
Displaced families had been sheltering in the basement of a house in Qana, which was crushed after a direct hit.
The Israeli strike killed at least 54 people, more than half of them children.
The BBC's Jim Muir said that for some of the rescuers, experienced as they were, the emotional impact of finding so many dead children in the ruins was too much.
"As I arrived, they were carrying out on a stretcher the limp body of a young boy of about 10. Many other children were pulled out of the rubble lifeless," our correspondent said.
"That's a Red Cross rescue worker sitting here in the sunshine just sobbing - he's so overcome with emotion here," he added.
'Desperate operation'
The BBC's Fergal Keane got an immediate sense of the destructive impact of the attack even before reaching the missile crater.
"As we drove into the town we saw ambulances coming against us and then at the scene numerous rescue workers from the Lebanese Red Cross and the local civil defence trying to organise, pretty desperately, a rescue operation," our correspondent said.
His early assessment of the casualties was borne out by events: "The number of wounded seems to be quite small and that indicates that very, very few people survived this strike."
Jim Muir had travelled to Qana along the road from Tyre, and and said the route had been pitted with bomb craters.
He added: "The three storey building where families have been sheltering in the basement was crushed sideways into an enormous crater by the Israeli bomb strike - a site all too familiar throughout south Lebanon today.
"Elsewhere in Qana and along the road up from Tyre, many buildings had been similarly crushed."
Only about a tenth of residents are estimated to remain in Qana, which has been subjected to heavy bombardment by Israeli forces in their conflict with the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.
Those with cars, petrol and the other means to leave have gone, and those left behind tend to be the poor and vulnerable.
The dangers of further bombardment meant that it was not safe for the BBC crews to stay longer than a few minutes in Qana.
Israeli warplanes could be heard flying around the area, and there were many explosions in the middle distance.
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UN Council 'shocked' by Qana raid
Monday, 31 July 2006, 01:39 GMT 02:39 UK
The UN Security Council has expressed its "shock and distress" at an Israeli attack in which 54 Lebanese civilians, many of them children, were killed.
A statement agreed by all 15 members said the council "strongly deplores this loss of innocent lives".
However, it did not call for an immediate truce as requested by the Secretary General Kofi Annan.
More than 30 children died in the raid on Qana on Sunday, the deadliest Israeli raid since hostilities began.
Ceasefire
The statement was approved by a unanimous vote of the 15-member council at an emergency session on Sunday.
It also called for a permanent and sustainable ceasefire, but not an immediate truce as urged by Kofi Annan.
Washington continues to oppose calling for an immediate ceasefire at the UN.
President George W Bush said the US wanted "to develop a resolution that will enable the region to have a sustainable peace, a peace that lasts, a peace that will enable mothers and fathers to raise their children in a hopeful world".
The attack has led to the suspension of air strikes by Israel for 48 hours so that an investigation can be carried out into the Qana bombing.
Condemnation
Many countries condemned the attack, and France has circulated a draft resolution calling for an immediate end to the fighting.
Earlier, Mr Annan had told the council, "Action is needed now before many more children, women and men become casualties of a conflict over which they have no control."
British Prime Minister Tony Blair said on Sunday the situation could not continue and that all hostilities ought to cease once a UN resolution was adopted.
BBC political editor Nick Robinson, who is travelling with Mr Blair in the US, said the prime minister accepted that Qana had "changed things".
In a joint statement issued with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Mr Blair said "the tragic events of today have underlined the urgency of the need for a ceasefire as soon as possible".
The UN Security Council has expressed its "shock and distress" at an Israeli attack in which 54 Lebanese civilians, many of them children, were killed.
A statement agreed by all 15 members said the council "strongly deplores this loss of innocent lives".
However, it did not call for an immediate truce as requested by the Secretary General Kofi Annan.
More than 30 children died in the raid on Qana on Sunday, the deadliest Israeli raid since hostilities began.
Ceasefire
The statement was approved by a unanimous vote of the 15-member council at an emergency session on Sunday.
It also called for a permanent and sustainable ceasefire, but not an immediate truce as urged by Kofi Annan.
Washington continues to oppose calling for an immediate ceasefire at the UN.
President George W Bush said the US wanted "to develop a resolution that will enable the region to have a sustainable peace, a peace that lasts, a peace that will enable mothers and fathers to raise their children in a hopeful world".
The attack has led to the suspension of air strikes by Israel for 48 hours so that an investigation can be carried out into the Qana bombing.
Condemnation
Many countries condemned the attack, and France has circulated a draft resolution calling for an immediate end to the fighting.
Earlier, Mr Annan had told the council, "Action is needed now before many more children, women and men become casualties of a conflict over which they have no control."
British Prime Minister Tony Blair said on Sunday the situation could not continue and that all hostilities ought to cease once a UN resolution was adopted.
BBC political editor Nick Robinson, who is travelling with Mr Blair in the US, said the prime minister accepted that Qana had "changed things".
In a joint statement issued with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Mr Blair said "the tragic events of today have underlined the urgency of the need for a ceasefire as soon as possible".
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Israel OKs Suspension of Aerial Activity
By KATHY GANNON, AP
JERUSALEM (July 30) - Israel agreed Sunday to halt air attacks on south Lebanon for 48 hours in the face of widespread outrage over an airstrike that killed at least 56 Lebanese, mostly women and children, when it leveled a building where they had taken shelter.
The announcement of the pause in overflights — made by State Department spokesman Adam Ereli — appeared to reflect American pressure on Israel. Ereli, who was in Israel with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, said Israel reserved the right to hit targets if it learns that attacks are being prepared against them.
An Israeli government official confirmed Prime Minister Ehud Olmert agreed to a 48-hour halt in airstrikes on Lebanon. The official was speaking on condition of anonymity since he was not authorized to talk to reporters,
The stunning bloodshed in Lebanon earlier on Sunday prompted Rice to cut short her Mideast mission and intensified world demands on Washington to back an immediate end to the fighting.
The attack in the village of Qana brought Lebanon's death toll to more than 510 and pushed American peace efforts to a crucial juncture, as fury at the United States flared in Lebanon. The Beirut government said it would no longer negotiate over a U.S. peace package without an unconditional cease-fire. U.N. chief Kofi Annan sharply criticized world leaders — implicitly Washington — for ignoring his previous calls for a stop.
In Qana, workers pulled dirt-covered bodies of young boys and girls — dressed in the shorts and T-shirts they had been sleeping in — out of the mangled wreckage of the three-story building. Bodies were carried in blankets.
Two extended families, the Shalhoubs and the Hashems, had gathered in the house for shelter from another night of Israeli bombardment in the border area when the 1 a.m. strike brought the building down.
"I was so afraid. There was dirt and rocks and I couldn't see. Everything was black," said 13-year-old Noor Hashem, who survived, although her five siblings did not. She was pulled out of the ruins by her uncle, whose wife and five children also died.
Israel apologized for the deaths but blamed Hezbollah guerrillas, saying they had fired rockets into northern Israel from near the building. Before Ereli's announcement, Olmert said the campaign to crush Hezbollah would continue, telling Rice it could last up to two weeks more.
"We will not stop this battle, despite the difficult incidents this morning," he told his Cabinet after the strike, according to a participant. "If necessary, it will be broadened without hesitation."
The U.N. Security Council held an emergency meeting to debate a resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire — a step Washington has stood nearly alone at the council in refusing until the disarmament of Hezbollah is assured.
In a jab at the United States, Annan told the council in unusually frank terms that he was "deeply dismayed" his previous calls for a halt were ignored. "Action is needed now before many more children, women and men become casualties of a conflict over which they have no control," he said.
After news of the deaths emerged, Rice telephoned Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Saniora and said she would stay in Jerusalem to continue work on a peace package, rather than make a planned Sunday visit to Beirut. Saniora said he told her not to come.
Rice decided to cut her Mideast trip short and return to Washington on Monday morning.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who only days earlier gave his support to the U.S. stance, struck a more urgent note Sunday, saying Washington must work faster to put together the broader deal it seeks.
"We have to get this now. We have to speed this whole process up," Blair said. "This has got to stop and stop on both sides."
But Saniora said talk of a larger peace package must wait until the firing stops.
"We will not negotiate until the Israeli war stops shedding the blood of innocent people," he told a gathering of foreign diplomats. But he underlined that Lebanon stands by ideas for disarming Hezbollah that it put forward earlier this week and that Rice praised.
He took a tough line and hinted that any Hezbollah response to the airstrike at the village of Qana was justified.
"As long as the aggression continues there is response to be exercised," he said, praising Hezbollah's leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah.
Hezbollah said on its Al-Manar television that it will retaliate.
"The massacre at Qana will not go unanswered," the group said.
The largest toll from a single Israeli strike in past weeks was around a dozen — and Sunday's dramatic deaths stunned Lebanese. Heightening the anger were memories of a 1996 Israeli artillery bombardment that hit a U.N. base in Qana, killing more than 100 Lebanese who had taken refuge from fighting. That attack sparked an international outcry that forced a halt to an Israeli offensive.
In Beirut, some 5,000 protesters gathered in downtown Beirut, at one point attacking a U.N. building and burning American flags, shouting, "Destroy Tel Aviv, destroy Tel Aviv" and chanting for Hezbollah's ally Syria to hit Israel. Another protest by about 50 people on a road leading to the U.S. Embassy forced security forces to close the road there.
Images of children's bodies tangled in the building's ruins, being carried away on blankets or wrapped in plastic sheeting were aired on Arab news networks. The dead included at least 34 children and 12 women, Lebanese security officials said.
In Qana, Khalil Shalhoub was helping pull out the dead until he saw his brother's body taken out on a stretcher. "Why are they killing us? What have we done?" he screamed.
Israel said Hezbollah had fired more than 40 rockets from Qana before the airstrike, including several from near the building that was bombed. Foreign Ministry official Gideon Meir accused Hezbollah of "using their own civilian population as human shields."
It said residents of the village had been warned to leave, but Shalhoub and others in Qana said residents were too terrified to take the road out of the village. The road to the nearest main city, Tyre, is lined with charred wreckage and smashed buildings from repeated Israeli bombings.
More than 750,000 Lebanese have fled their homes in the fighting. But many thousands more are still believed holed up in the south, taking refuge in schools, hospitals or basements of apartment buildings amid the fighting — many of them too afraid to flee on roads heavily hit by Israeli strikes.
Lebanese Defense Minister Elias Murr disputed allegations that Hezbollah was firing missiles from Qana.
"What do you expect Israel to say? Will it say that it killed 40 children and women?" he told Qatar-based al-Jazeera TV station.
On Thursday, the Israeli military's Al-Mashriq radio that broadcasts into southern Lebanon warned residents that their villages would be "totally destroyed" if missiles were fired from them. Leaflets with similar messages were dropped in some areas Saturday.
Israel on Sunday also launched its second significant ground incursion into southern Lebanon. Before dawn, Israeli forces backed by heavy artillery fire crossed the border and clashed with Hezbollah guerrillas in the Taibeh Project area, about two miles inside Lebanon.
Hezbollah said two of its fighters were killed and claimed eight Israeli soldiers also died. The Israeli military said only that four soldiers were wounded when guerrillas hit a tank with a missile.
Some 460 Lebanese, mostly civilians, had been killed in the campaign through Saturday, according to the Health Ministry — before the attacks on Qana. Thirty-three Israeli soldiers have died, and Hezbollah rocket attacks on northern Israel have killed 18 civilians, Israeli authorities said.
The U.N. World Food Program canceled an aid convoy's trip to the embattled south after the Israeli military denied safe passage, the group said in a statement. The six-truck convoy had been scheduled to bring relief supplies to Marjayoun.
Many in the Arab world and Europe see the United States as holding the key to the conflict, believing that Israel would have to stop its offensive — sparked by Hezbollah's July 12 abduction of two Israeli soldiers — if its top ally Washington insisted it had to.
The United States has balked at doing so, saying any cease-fire must ensure real and lasting peace.
Rice had come to the Mideast with a peace package that would call for the disarming of Hezbollah, release of Israel's soldiers, deployment of a U.N.-mandated force in south Lebanon and the establishment of a buffer zone along the border.
Hopes had been raised earlier in the week when Hezbollah signed onto a Lebanese government peace plan that contained some similar items — though it left disarmament and deployment of the international force for later and dependent on conditions. Chief among those conditions was that Israel release Lebanese in its jails and agree to resolve a dispute over a piece of land it holds claimed by Lebanon.
Lebanese President Emile Lahoud lashed out at the United States, saying that if it was "serious, it can make Israel cease firing ... They (Americans) are still giving the green light to Israel to continue its aggression against Lebanon."
Kathy Gannon reported from Qana, Lebanon.
07-30-06 18:04 EDT.
JERUSALEM (July 30) - Israel agreed Sunday to halt air attacks on south Lebanon for 48 hours in the face of widespread outrage over an airstrike that killed at least 56 Lebanese, mostly women and children, when it leveled a building where they had taken shelter.
The announcement of the pause in overflights — made by State Department spokesman Adam Ereli — appeared to reflect American pressure on Israel. Ereli, who was in Israel with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, said Israel reserved the right to hit targets if it learns that attacks are being prepared against them.
An Israeli government official confirmed Prime Minister Ehud Olmert agreed to a 48-hour halt in airstrikes on Lebanon. The official was speaking on condition of anonymity since he was not authorized to talk to reporters,
The stunning bloodshed in Lebanon earlier on Sunday prompted Rice to cut short her Mideast mission and intensified world demands on Washington to back an immediate end to the fighting.
The attack in the village of Qana brought Lebanon's death toll to more than 510 and pushed American peace efforts to a crucial juncture, as fury at the United States flared in Lebanon. The Beirut government said it would no longer negotiate over a U.S. peace package without an unconditional cease-fire. U.N. chief Kofi Annan sharply criticized world leaders — implicitly Washington — for ignoring his previous calls for a stop.
In Qana, workers pulled dirt-covered bodies of young boys and girls — dressed in the shorts and T-shirts they had been sleeping in — out of the mangled wreckage of the three-story building. Bodies were carried in blankets.
Two extended families, the Shalhoubs and the Hashems, had gathered in the house for shelter from another night of Israeli bombardment in the border area when the 1 a.m. strike brought the building down.
"I was so afraid. There was dirt and rocks and I couldn't see. Everything was black," said 13-year-old Noor Hashem, who survived, although her five siblings did not. She was pulled out of the ruins by her uncle, whose wife and five children also died.
Israel apologized for the deaths but blamed Hezbollah guerrillas, saying they had fired rockets into northern Israel from near the building. Before Ereli's announcement, Olmert said the campaign to crush Hezbollah would continue, telling Rice it could last up to two weeks more.
"We will not stop this battle, despite the difficult incidents this morning," he told his Cabinet after the strike, according to a participant. "If necessary, it will be broadened without hesitation."
The U.N. Security Council held an emergency meeting to debate a resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire — a step Washington has stood nearly alone at the council in refusing until the disarmament of Hezbollah is assured.
In a jab at the United States, Annan told the council in unusually frank terms that he was "deeply dismayed" his previous calls for a halt were ignored. "Action is needed now before many more children, women and men become casualties of a conflict over which they have no control," he said.
After news of the deaths emerged, Rice telephoned Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Saniora and said she would stay in Jerusalem to continue work on a peace package, rather than make a planned Sunday visit to Beirut. Saniora said he told her not to come.
Rice decided to cut her Mideast trip short and return to Washington on Monday morning.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who only days earlier gave his support to the U.S. stance, struck a more urgent note Sunday, saying Washington must work faster to put together the broader deal it seeks.
"We have to get this now. We have to speed this whole process up," Blair said. "This has got to stop and stop on both sides."
But Saniora said talk of a larger peace package must wait until the firing stops.
"We will not negotiate until the Israeli war stops shedding the blood of innocent people," he told a gathering of foreign diplomats. But he underlined that Lebanon stands by ideas for disarming Hezbollah that it put forward earlier this week and that Rice praised.
He took a tough line and hinted that any Hezbollah response to the airstrike at the village of Qana was justified.
"As long as the aggression continues there is response to be exercised," he said, praising Hezbollah's leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah.
Hezbollah said on its Al-Manar television that it will retaliate.
"The massacre at Qana will not go unanswered," the group said.
The largest toll from a single Israeli strike in past weeks was around a dozen — and Sunday's dramatic deaths stunned Lebanese. Heightening the anger were memories of a 1996 Israeli artillery bombardment that hit a U.N. base in Qana, killing more than 100 Lebanese who had taken refuge from fighting. That attack sparked an international outcry that forced a halt to an Israeli offensive.
In Beirut, some 5,000 protesters gathered in downtown Beirut, at one point attacking a U.N. building and burning American flags, shouting, "Destroy Tel Aviv, destroy Tel Aviv" and chanting for Hezbollah's ally Syria to hit Israel. Another protest by about 50 people on a road leading to the U.S. Embassy forced security forces to close the road there.
Images of children's bodies tangled in the building's ruins, being carried away on blankets or wrapped in plastic sheeting were aired on Arab news networks. The dead included at least 34 children and 12 women, Lebanese security officials said.
In Qana, Khalil Shalhoub was helping pull out the dead until he saw his brother's body taken out on a stretcher. "Why are they killing us? What have we done?" he screamed.
Israel said Hezbollah had fired more than 40 rockets from Qana before the airstrike, including several from near the building that was bombed. Foreign Ministry official Gideon Meir accused Hezbollah of "using their own civilian population as human shields."
It said residents of the village had been warned to leave, but Shalhoub and others in Qana said residents were too terrified to take the road out of the village. The road to the nearest main city, Tyre, is lined with charred wreckage and smashed buildings from repeated Israeli bombings.
More than 750,000 Lebanese have fled their homes in the fighting. But many thousands more are still believed holed up in the south, taking refuge in schools, hospitals or basements of apartment buildings amid the fighting — many of them too afraid to flee on roads heavily hit by Israeli strikes.
Lebanese Defense Minister Elias Murr disputed allegations that Hezbollah was firing missiles from Qana.
"What do you expect Israel to say? Will it say that it killed 40 children and women?" he told Qatar-based al-Jazeera TV station.
On Thursday, the Israeli military's Al-Mashriq radio that broadcasts into southern Lebanon warned residents that their villages would be "totally destroyed" if missiles were fired from them. Leaflets with similar messages were dropped in some areas Saturday.
Israel on Sunday also launched its second significant ground incursion into southern Lebanon. Before dawn, Israeli forces backed by heavy artillery fire crossed the border and clashed with Hezbollah guerrillas in the Taibeh Project area, about two miles inside Lebanon.
Hezbollah said two of its fighters were killed and claimed eight Israeli soldiers also died. The Israeli military said only that four soldiers were wounded when guerrillas hit a tank with a missile.
Some 460 Lebanese, mostly civilians, had been killed in the campaign through Saturday, according to the Health Ministry — before the attacks on Qana. Thirty-three Israeli soldiers have died, and Hezbollah rocket attacks on northern Israel have killed 18 civilians, Israeli authorities said.
The U.N. World Food Program canceled an aid convoy's trip to the embattled south after the Israeli military denied safe passage, the group said in a statement. The six-truck convoy had been scheduled to bring relief supplies to Marjayoun.
Many in the Arab world and Europe see the United States as holding the key to the conflict, believing that Israel would have to stop its offensive — sparked by Hezbollah's July 12 abduction of two Israeli soldiers — if its top ally Washington insisted it had to.
The United States has balked at doing so, saying any cease-fire must ensure real and lasting peace.
Rice had come to the Mideast with a peace package that would call for the disarming of Hezbollah, release of Israel's soldiers, deployment of a U.N.-mandated force in south Lebanon and the establishment of a buffer zone along the border.
Hopes had been raised earlier in the week when Hezbollah signed onto a Lebanese government peace plan that contained some similar items — though it left disarmament and deployment of the international force for later and dependent on conditions. Chief among those conditions was that Israel release Lebanese in its jails and agree to resolve a dispute over a piece of land it holds claimed by Lebanon.
Lebanese President Emile Lahoud lashed out at the United States, saying that if it was "serious, it can make Israel cease firing ... They (Americans) are still giving the green light to Israel to continue its aggression against Lebanon."
Kathy Gannon reported from Qana, Lebanon.
07-30-06 18:04 EDT.
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theone666
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Rice seeks Israel truce this week
Monday, 31 July 2006, 06:32 GMT 07:32 UK
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice says the US will seek a UN resolution calling for a ceasefire in the Israeli-Lebanon crisis this week.
Earlier, UK Prime Minister Tony Blair said there should be "maximum pressure" for a UN resolution to end the attacks.
Israel has agreed a 48-hour halt to air strikes in Lebanon while the deaths of 50 civilians at Qana are investigated.
More than 30 children died in Sunday's attack, the deadliest Israeli raid since hostilities began on 12 July.
Speaking after talks with Israeli officials in Jerusalem, Ms Rice said the US will call for UN Security Council action on a comprehensive settlement.
She said it will comprise three parts: "a ceasefire, the political principles that provide for a long-term settlement and the authorisation of an international force to support the Lebanese army in keeping the peace."
"As I head back to Washington, I take with me an emerging consensus on what is necessary for both an urgent ceasefire and a lasting settlement," Ms Rice said.
"I am convinced we can achieve both this week," she added.
Earlier, Mr Blair, on a trip to the US, said he was optimistic of the chances of an end to hostilities.
While calling for "maximum pressure" to get the Security Council resolution passed, he also called for "maximum restraint" in the region and welcomed Israel's 48-hour ceasefire in the south to allow the deaths at Qana to be investigated.
Suspension in force
There were Israeli air strikes in eastern Lebanon early on Monday, but Israel said they came before its suspension came into effect.
Israeli jets carried out two raids near Yanta, 5km (three miles) from the Syrian border, at 0130 (2230GMT Sunday), Lebanese security sources told the Associated Press.
An Israeli army spokesman told AP that the flights over southern Lebanon were only suspended from 0200 (2300GMT).
Israel's ambassador to the UN, Dan Gillerman, told the BBC the suspension would allow time for a probe and for civilians to leave the area.
"We're doing this in order to allow a full investigation into what happened in Qana, " he said, "and also in order to create a window for the UN to evacuate people from southern Lebanon, who want to leave southern Lebanon."
Retaliation pledge
However, Israel is reserving the right to take action against any targets it says are preparing attacks against it.
Several Katyusha rockets hit the Israeli border town of Kiryat Shemona on Sunday, wounding several people, in what residents described as the worst day so far.
Hezbollah militants have vowed to retaliate after the Qana air strike, which killed displaced civilians sheltering in the basement of a three-storey house.
The UN Security Council agreed a statement late on Sunday deploring the loss of life.
The statement, approved unanimously by the 15-member council after hours of talks, expressed "extreme shock and distress" at the deaths.
Lebanon's health minister says about 750 people - mainly civilians - have been killed by Israeli action.
A total of 51 Israelis, including at least 18 civilians, have been killed in the conflict.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice says the US will seek a UN resolution calling for a ceasefire in the Israeli-Lebanon crisis this week.
Earlier, UK Prime Minister Tony Blair said there should be "maximum pressure" for a UN resolution to end the attacks.
Israel has agreed a 48-hour halt to air strikes in Lebanon while the deaths of 50 civilians at Qana are investigated.
More than 30 children died in Sunday's attack, the deadliest Israeli raid since hostilities began on 12 July.
Speaking after talks with Israeli officials in Jerusalem, Ms Rice said the US will call for UN Security Council action on a comprehensive settlement.
She said it will comprise three parts: "a ceasefire, the political principles that provide for a long-term settlement and the authorisation of an international force to support the Lebanese army in keeping the peace."
"As I head back to Washington, I take with me an emerging consensus on what is necessary for both an urgent ceasefire and a lasting settlement," Ms Rice said.
"I am convinced we can achieve both this week," she added.
Earlier, Mr Blair, on a trip to the US, said he was optimistic of the chances of an end to hostilities.
While calling for "maximum pressure" to get the Security Council resolution passed, he also called for "maximum restraint" in the region and welcomed Israel's 48-hour ceasefire in the south to allow the deaths at Qana to be investigated.
Suspension in force
There were Israeli air strikes in eastern Lebanon early on Monday, but Israel said they came before its suspension came into effect.
Israeli jets carried out two raids near Yanta, 5km (three miles) from the Syrian border, at 0130 (2230GMT Sunday), Lebanese security sources told the Associated Press.
An Israeli army spokesman told AP that the flights over southern Lebanon were only suspended from 0200 (2300GMT).
Israel's ambassador to the UN, Dan Gillerman, told the BBC the suspension would allow time for a probe and for civilians to leave the area.
"We're doing this in order to allow a full investigation into what happened in Qana, " he said, "and also in order to create a window for the UN to evacuate people from southern Lebanon, who want to leave southern Lebanon."
Retaliation pledge
However, Israel is reserving the right to take action against any targets it says are preparing attacks against it.
Several Katyusha rockets hit the Israeli border town of Kiryat Shemona on Sunday, wounding several people, in what residents described as the worst day so far.
Hezbollah militants have vowed to retaliate after the Qana air strike, which killed displaced civilians sheltering in the basement of a three-storey house.
The UN Security Council agreed a statement late on Sunday deploring the loss of life.
The statement, approved unanimously by the 15-member council after hours of talks, expressed "extreme shock and distress" at the deaths.
Lebanon's health minister says about 750 people - mainly civilians - have been killed by Israeli action.
A total of 51 Israelis, including at least 18 civilians, have been killed in the conflict.
-
theone666
- Major [O-4]
- Posts: 1434
- Joined: Mon Nov 21, 2005 5:00 am
Israel 'not ready for truce yet'
Monday, 31 July 2006, 11:48 GMT 12:48 UK
Israeli Defence Minister Amir Peretz has said that, despite a 48-hour halt to air strikes on south Lebanon, Israel cannot agree to an immediate ceasefire.
Mr Peretz told parliament that if the offensive stopped, "the extremists will rear their heads anew", allowing the threat they posed to quickly return.
Israel would expand and strengthen its attack, he said, ahead of cabinet talks on possibly broadening the offensive.
Israel has halted air raids to allow an inquiry into civilian deaths in Qana.
At least 54 people, many of them children, were killed in the town on Sunday when the house where they were sheltering was hit by Israeli war planes - the deadliest Israeli raid since hostilities began on 12 July.
Despite Israel's announcement of a suspension of air strikes, its war planes have again been in action in southern Lebanon, supporting ground troops involved in heavy fighting with Hezbollah militants.
Israel says it reserves the right to take action against targets if it believes its troops or civilians are under threat.
Mr Peretz described the temporary cessation of air strikes, which Israel says is to allow an investigation into the incident and give civilians trapped in the region a chance to escape, as a "humanitarian gesture".
Mr Peretz was interrupted by Arab members of the Israeli parliament many times as he addressed the special Knesset session.
UN resolution plan
The defence minister's comments came after US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the US would seek a UN resolution calling for a ceasefire this week.
Speaking after talks with Israeli officials in Jerusalem, Ms Rice said the US would call for UN Security Council action on a comprehensive settlement.
She said it would comprise three parts: a ceasefire, the political principles that provide for a long-term settlement and the authorisation of an international force to support the Lebanese army in keeping the peace.
"As I head back to Washington, I take with me an emerging consensus on what is necessary for both an urgent ceasefire and a lasting settlement," Ms Rice said.
"I am convinced we can achieve both this week," she added.
Earlier, UK Prime Minister Tony Blair, on a trip to the US, said he was optimistic of the chances of an end to hostilities.
While calling for "maximum pressure" to get the Security Council resolution passed, he also called for "maximum restraint" in the region and welcomed Israel's 48-hour ceasefire in the south to allow the deaths at Qana to be investigated.
Ground battle
Meanwhile, fighting between Hezbollah militants and Israeli ground troops has been continuing in southern Lebanon.
The BBC's Richard Miron in the Israeli border town of Metulla says the Israeli military has been shelling targets in the Lebanese villages of Kila, Taibe and Adasya.
For their part Hezbollah militants have been firing rockets into Metulla.
Hezbollah has vowed to retaliate after the Qana air strike.
Lebanon's health minister says about 750 people - mainly civilians - have been killed by Israeli action.
A total of 51 Israelis, including at least 18 civilians, have been killed in the conflict.
Israeli Defence Minister Amir Peretz has said that, despite a 48-hour halt to air strikes on south Lebanon, Israel cannot agree to an immediate ceasefire.
Mr Peretz told parliament that if the offensive stopped, "the extremists will rear their heads anew", allowing the threat they posed to quickly return.
Israel would expand and strengthen its attack, he said, ahead of cabinet talks on possibly broadening the offensive.
Israel has halted air raids to allow an inquiry into civilian deaths in Qana.
At least 54 people, many of them children, were killed in the town on Sunday when the house where they were sheltering was hit by Israeli war planes - the deadliest Israeli raid since hostilities began on 12 July.
Despite Israel's announcement of a suspension of air strikes, its war planes have again been in action in southern Lebanon, supporting ground troops involved in heavy fighting with Hezbollah militants.
Israel says it reserves the right to take action against targets if it believes its troops or civilians are under threat.
Mr Peretz described the temporary cessation of air strikes, which Israel says is to allow an investigation into the incident and give civilians trapped in the region a chance to escape, as a "humanitarian gesture".
Mr Peretz was interrupted by Arab members of the Israeli parliament many times as he addressed the special Knesset session.
UN resolution plan
The defence minister's comments came after US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the US would seek a UN resolution calling for a ceasefire this week.
Speaking after talks with Israeli officials in Jerusalem, Ms Rice said the US would call for UN Security Council action on a comprehensive settlement.
She said it would comprise three parts: a ceasefire, the political principles that provide for a long-term settlement and the authorisation of an international force to support the Lebanese army in keeping the peace.
"As I head back to Washington, I take with me an emerging consensus on what is necessary for both an urgent ceasefire and a lasting settlement," Ms Rice said.
"I am convinced we can achieve both this week," she added.
Earlier, UK Prime Minister Tony Blair, on a trip to the US, said he was optimistic of the chances of an end to hostilities.
While calling for "maximum pressure" to get the Security Council resolution passed, he also called for "maximum restraint" in the region and welcomed Israel's 48-hour ceasefire in the south to allow the deaths at Qana to be investigated.
Ground battle
Meanwhile, fighting between Hezbollah militants and Israeli ground troops has been continuing in southern Lebanon.
The BBC's Richard Miron in the Israeli border town of Metulla says the Israeli military has been shelling targets in the Lebanese villages of Kila, Taibe and Adasya.
For their part Hezbollah militants have been firing rockets into Metulla.
Hezbollah has vowed to retaliate after the Qana air strike.
Lebanon's health minister says about 750 people - mainly civilians - have been killed by Israeli action.
A total of 51 Israelis, including at least 18 civilians, have been killed in the conflict.
-
theone666
- Major [O-4]
- Posts: 1434
- Joined: Mon Nov 21, 2005 5:00 am
Israeli Air Force Strikes Southern Lebanon
By THOMAS WAGNER and KATHY GANNO, AP
JERUSALEM (July 31) - The Israeli air force carried out strikes Monday in southern Lebanon despite an agreement to halt raids for 48 hours after nearly 60 Lebanese civilians were killed in an Israeli bombing, the army said.
The airstrikes near the village of Taibe were meant to protect ground forces operating in the area and were not targeting anyone or anything specific, the army said.
Meanwhile, Hezbollah guerrillas attacked an Israeli tank in southern Lebanon, wounding three soldiers, the military said. The attack occurred near the villages of Kila and Taibe on border, where Israeli ground forces have been fighting Hezbollah guerrillas for nearly two weeks.
Israel Radio also reported that Hezbollah rockets hit the northern town of Kiryat Shemona. No casualties were reported in the rocket attacks, the radio said.
Hours before the fighting started up again, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice urged the U.N. Security Council to arrange for a cease-fire agreement by week's end that would include the formation of an international force to help Lebanese forces control southern Lebanon.
But Israeli Defense Minister Amir Peretz made clear in a speech to parliament that Israel would not agree to an immediate cease-fire and had plans to expand its operation in Lebanon.
"It's forbidden to agree to an immediate cease-fire," Peretz told parliament, as several Arab legislators heckled him and demanded an immediate halt to the offensive. "Israel will expand and strengthen its activities against the Hezbollah."
Israel's top ministers were to discuss expanding the army's ground operation at a meeting later Monday, while thousands of reserve soldiers trained for the possibility that they will be sent into Lebanon to participate in the battle, now 20 days old.
It was unclear whether the senior ministers would approve a broader ground assault at their meeting, defense officials said on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told Rice over the weekend that Israel would need 10 to 14 more days to finish its offensive, and Justice Minister Haim Ramon told Army Radio on Monday that he did not think the fighting was over yet.
"I'm convinced that we won't finish this war until it's clear that Hezbollah has no more abilities to attack Israel from south Lebanon. This is what we are striving for," Ramon said.
The stunning bloodshed in Qana increased international pressure on Washington to back an immediate end to the fighting and prompted Rice to cut short her Mideast mission to return home Monday.
In a nationally televised speech before leaving Israel, Rice said she will seek international consensus for a cease-fire and a "lasting settlement" in the conflict between Lebanon and Israel through a U.N. Security Council resolution this week.
"I am convinced that only by achieving both will the Lebanese people be able to control their country and their future, and the people of Israel finally be able to live free of attack from terrorist groups in Lebanon," Rice said.
An Israeli army spokesman left open the possibility that Israel might still hit targets to stop imminent attacks on the country, despite the airstrike suspension. He also made clear the Israelis could end the suspension depending on "operational developments" in Lebanon.
The army said that the temporary cessation of aerial activity would allow the opening of corridors for Lebanese civilians who want to leave south Lebanon for the north and would maintain land, sea and air corridors for humanitarian assistance. Still, there was no immediate mass exodus from southern Lebanon, though traffic was heavier than usual.
The largest death toll from a single Israeli strike before Sunday was around a dozen, and the Qana attack, where at least 34 children and 12 women died, stunned Lebanese. Heightening the anger were memories of a 1996 Israeli artillery bombardment that hit a U.N. base in Qana, killing more than 100 Lebanese who had taken refuge there from fighting. That attack sparked an international outcry that forced a halt to an Israeli offensive.
Hezbollah vowed retaliation on its Al-Manar television, saying: "The massacre at Qana will not go unanswered." It hit northern Israel on Sunday with 157 rockets -- the highest one-day total during the offensive -- with one Israeli moderately wounded and 12 others lightly hurt, medics said.
Israel apologized for the deaths and promised an investigation, but said Hezbollah had fired more than 40 rockets from Qana before the airstrike, including several from near the building that was bombed. Foreign Ministry official Gideon Meir accused Hezbollah of "using their own civilian population as human shields."
More than 750,000 Lebanese have fled their homes in the fighting. But many thousands more are still believed holed up in the south -- many of them too afraid to flee on roads heavily hit by Israeli strikes.
The attack on Qana brought Lebanon's death toll to more than 510 and pushed American peace efforts to a crucial juncture, as fury at the United States flared in Lebanon. The Beirut government said it would no longer negotiate over a U.S. peace package without an unconditional cease-fire.
At the United Nations, the Security Council approved a statement expressing "extreme shock and distress" at the bloodshed and calling for an end to violence, stopping short of a demand for an immediate cease-fire.
In a jab at the United States, U.N. chief Kofi Annan told the council in unusually frank terms that he was "deeply dismayed" his previous calls for a halt were ignored. "Action is needed now before many more children, women and men become casualties of a conflict over which they have no control," he said.
After news of the deaths emerged, Rice telephoned Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Saniora and said she would stay in Jerusalem to continue work on a peace package, rather than make a planned Sunday visit to Beirut. Saniora said he told her not to come.
Kathy Gannon contributed to this story from Qana, Lebanon.
7/31/2006 07:01:42
JERUSALEM (July 31) - The Israeli air force carried out strikes Monday in southern Lebanon despite an agreement to halt raids for 48 hours after nearly 60 Lebanese civilians were killed in an Israeli bombing, the army said.
The airstrikes near the village of Taibe were meant to protect ground forces operating in the area and were not targeting anyone or anything specific, the army said.
Meanwhile, Hezbollah guerrillas attacked an Israeli tank in southern Lebanon, wounding three soldiers, the military said. The attack occurred near the villages of Kila and Taibe on border, where Israeli ground forces have been fighting Hezbollah guerrillas for nearly two weeks.
Israel Radio also reported that Hezbollah rockets hit the northern town of Kiryat Shemona. No casualties were reported in the rocket attacks, the radio said.
Hours before the fighting started up again, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice urged the U.N. Security Council to arrange for a cease-fire agreement by week's end that would include the formation of an international force to help Lebanese forces control southern Lebanon.
But Israeli Defense Minister Amir Peretz made clear in a speech to parliament that Israel would not agree to an immediate cease-fire and had plans to expand its operation in Lebanon.
"It's forbidden to agree to an immediate cease-fire," Peretz told parliament, as several Arab legislators heckled him and demanded an immediate halt to the offensive. "Israel will expand and strengthen its activities against the Hezbollah."
Israel's top ministers were to discuss expanding the army's ground operation at a meeting later Monday, while thousands of reserve soldiers trained for the possibility that they will be sent into Lebanon to participate in the battle, now 20 days old.
It was unclear whether the senior ministers would approve a broader ground assault at their meeting, defense officials said on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told Rice over the weekend that Israel would need 10 to 14 more days to finish its offensive, and Justice Minister Haim Ramon told Army Radio on Monday that he did not think the fighting was over yet.
"I'm convinced that we won't finish this war until it's clear that Hezbollah has no more abilities to attack Israel from south Lebanon. This is what we are striving for," Ramon said.
The stunning bloodshed in Qana increased international pressure on Washington to back an immediate end to the fighting and prompted Rice to cut short her Mideast mission to return home Monday.
In a nationally televised speech before leaving Israel, Rice said she will seek international consensus for a cease-fire and a "lasting settlement" in the conflict between Lebanon and Israel through a U.N. Security Council resolution this week.
"I am convinced that only by achieving both will the Lebanese people be able to control their country and their future, and the people of Israel finally be able to live free of attack from terrorist groups in Lebanon," Rice said.
An Israeli army spokesman left open the possibility that Israel might still hit targets to stop imminent attacks on the country, despite the airstrike suspension. He also made clear the Israelis could end the suspension depending on "operational developments" in Lebanon.
The army said that the temporary cessation of aerial activity would allow the opening of corridors for Lebanese civilians who want to leave south Lebanon for the north and would maintain land, sea and air corridors for humanitarian assistance. Still, there was no immediate mass exodus from southern Lebanon, though traffic was heavier than usual.
The largest death toll from a single Israeli strike before Sunday was around a dozen, and the Qana attack, where at least 34 children and 12 women died, stunned Lebanese. Heightening the anger were memories of a 1996 Israeli artillery bombardment that hit a U.N. base in Qana, killing more than 100 Lebanese who had taken refuge there from fighting. That attack sparked an international outcry that forced a halt to an Israeli offensive.
Hezbollah vowed retaliation on its Al-Manar television, saying: "The massacre at Qana will not go unanswered." It hit northern Israel on Sunday with 157 rockets -- the highest one-day total during the offensive -- with one Israeli moderately wounded and 12 others lightly hurt, medics said.
Israel apologized for the deaths and promised an investigation, but said Hezbollah had fired more than 40 rockets from Qana before the airstrike, including several from near the building that was bombed. Foreign Ministry official Gideon Meir accused Hezbollah of "using their own civilian population as human shields."
More than 750,000 Lebanese have fled their homes in the fighting. But many thousands more are still believed holed up in the south -- many of them too afraid to flee on roads heavily hit by Israeli strikes.
The attack on Qana brought Lebanon's death toll to more than 510 and pushed American peace efforts to a crucial juncture, as fury at the United States flared in Lebanon. The Beirut government said it would no longer negotiate over a U.S. peace package without an unconditional cease-fire.
At the United Nations, the Security Council approved a statement expressing "extreme shock and distress" at the bloodshed and calling for an end to violence, stopping short of a demand for an immediate cease-fire.
In a jab at the United States, U.N. chief Kofi Annan told the council in unusually frank terms that he was "deeply dismayed" his previous calls for a halt were ignored. "Action is needed now before many more children, women and men become casualties of a conflict over which they have no control," he said.
After news of the deaths emerged, Rice telephoned Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Saniora and said she would stay in Jerusalem to continue work on a peace package, rather than make a planned Sunday visit to Beirut. Saniora said he told her not to come.
Kathy Gannon contributed to this story from Qana, Lebanon.
7/31/2006 07:01:42
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theone666
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Israel Resumes Strikes After Brief Lull
By THOMAS WAGNER and KATHY GANNO, AP
JERUSALEM (July 31) - Israeli warplanes carried out airstrikes in southern Lebanon on Monday, hours after agreeing to temporarily halt raids while investigating a bombing that killed nearly 60 Lebanese civilians, mostly women and children seeking shelter.
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert agreed to a 48-hour halt in the airstrikes beginning at 2 a.m. Monday while the military concludes its inquiry into the attack on the south Lebanese village of Qana.
But Israel left open the option it might hit targets to stop imminent attacks or if the military completed its inquiry within 48 hours.
Monday's airstrikes near the village of Taibe were meant to protect ground forces operating in the area and were not targeting anyone or anything specific, the army said.
In a second airstrike around the port city of Tyre, Israel accidentally killed a Lebanese soldier when it hit a car that it believed was carrying a senior Hezbollah official, the Israeli army said. Lebanese security officials said the soldier was killed by a rocket strike from a drone aircraft.
The Israeli army justified the action, saying the leader believed to have been in the car was a threat to Israel. Instead, the car was carrying a Lebanese army officer and soldiers.
"They were, of course, not the targets and we regret the incident," the army said.
Meanwhile, Hezbollah guerrillas attacked an Israeli tank in southern Lebanon, wounding three soldiers, the military said. The attack occurred near Kila and Taibe on the border, where Israeli ground forces have been fighting Hezbollah guerrillas for nearly two weeks.
Israel Radio also reported that Hezbollah rockets hit the northern town of Kiryat Shemona. No casualties were reported, the radio said.
AP Television News footage showed two Israeli tanks side by side in southern Lebanon, with flames suddenly covering one of them. Soldiers soon emerged from one tank and did not appear to be badly hurt.
Hours before the fighting resumed, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice urged the U.N. Security Council to arrange a cease-fire agreement by week's end that would include an international force to help Lebanese forces control southern Lebanon.
But Israeli Defense Minister Amir Peretz made clear that Israel would not agree to an immediate cease-fire and in fact planned to expand military operations in Lebanon.
"It's forbidden to agree to an immediate cease-fire," Peretz told parliament as several Arab legislators heckled him and demanded an immediate halt to the offensive. "Israel will expand and strengthen its activities against the Hezbollah."
State Department spokesman Adam Ereli had noted in a statement late Sunday that, in connection with the halt in bombing, "Israel, of course, has reserved the right to take action against targets preparing attack against it."
Israel's top ministers were to discuss expanding the army's ground operation at a meeting later Monday, while thousands of reserve soldiers trained for the possibility they will be sent into Lebanon to participate in the 20-day-long battle.
The bombing of the Lebanese village of Qana on Sunday led to demands around the world for an immediate cease-fire.
Olmert told Rice over the weekend that Israel would need 10-14 more days to finish its offensive, and Justice Minister Haim Ramon told Army Radio on Monday he did not believe the fighting was over yet.
"I'm convinced that we won't finish this war until it's clear that Hezbollah has no more abilities to attack Israel from south Lebanon. This is what we are striving for," Ramon said.
The stunning bloodshed in Qana increased international pressure on Washington to back an immediate end to the fighting and prompted Rice to cut short her Mideast mission to return home Monday.
In a nationally televised speech before leaving Israel, Rice said she will seek international consensus for a cease-fire and a "lasting settlement" in the conflict between Lebanon and Israel through a U.N. Security Council resolution this week.
"I am convinced that only by achieving both will the Lebanese people be able to control their country and their future, and the people of Israel finally be able to live free of attack from terrorist groups in Lebanon," Rice said.
The army said that the temporary cessation of aerial activity would allow the opening of corridors for Lebanese civilians who want to leave south Lebanon for the north and would maintain land, sea and air corridors for humanitarian assistance.
But Hezbollah legislator Hassan Fadlallah had Israel's motives, telling Lebanese television it was just "an attempt to absorb international indignation over the Qana massacre."
By early afternoon Monday, roads from villages into the port city of Tyre and heading north along the coast were packed with thousands of refugees in pickup trucks and cars. With many of the main roads too shattered for use, cars drove on dirt side roads with white flags fluttering out windows or white sheets covering the roofs.
Lebanese Red Cross teams escorted by U.N. observers went to the village of Srifa to dig up more than 50 bodies believed still buried under rubble since Israeli strikes wiped out an entire neighborhood on July 19. The bodies have begun decomposing, the Red Cross said.
The largest death toll from a single Israeli strike before Sunday was about a dozen, and the Qana attack, where at least 34 children and 12 women died, stunned Lebanese. Heightening the anger were memories of a 1996 Israeli artillery bombardment that hit a U.N. base in Qana, killing more than 100 Lebanese who had taken refuge there from fighting. That attack sparked an international outcry that forced a halt to an Israeli offensive.
Hezbollah vowed on its Al-Manar television: "The massacre at Qana will not go unanswered." It hit northern Israel on Sunday with 157 rockets -- the highest one-day total during the offensive -- with one Israeli wounded moderately and 12 others hurt slightly, medics said.
Thirty-three Israeli soldiers have died, and Hezbollah rocket attacks on northern Israel have killed 18 civilians, Israeli authorities said,
Israel apologized for the deaths and promised an investigation but said Hezbollah had fired more than 40 rockets from Qana before the airstrike, including several from near the building that was bombed. Foreign Ministry official Gideon Meir accused Hezbollah of "using their own civilian population as human shields."
More than 750,000 Lebanese have fled their homes in the fighting. But many thousands more are still believed holed up in the south -- many of them too afraid to flee on roads heavily hit by Israeli strikes.
The attack on Qana brought Lebanon's death toll to more than 510 and pushed American peace efforts to a crucial juncture as fury at the United States flared in Lebanon. The Beirut government said it would no longer negotiate over a U.S. peace package without an unconditional cease-fire.
At the United Nations, the Security Council approved a statement expressing "extreme shock and distress" at the bloodshed and calling for an end to violence, stopping short of a demand for an immediate cease-fire.
In a jab at the United States, Secretary-General Kofi Annan told the council in unusually frank terms that he was "deeply dismayed" his previous calls for a halt were ignored.
"Action is needed now before many more children, women and men become casualties of a conflict over which they have no control," he said.
7/31/2006 09:04:29
http://articles.news.aol.com/news/_a/is ... 5409990004
JERUSALEM (July 31) - Israeli warplanes carried out airstrikes in southern Lebanon on Monday, hours after agreeing to temporarily halt raids while investigating a bombing that killed nearly 60 Lebanese civilians, mostly women and children seeking shelter.
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert agreed to a 48-hour halt in the airstrikes beginning at 2 a.m. Monday while the military concludes its inquiry into the attack on the south Lebanese village of Qana.
But Israel left open the option it might hit targets to stop imminent attacks or if the military completed its inquiry within 48 hours.
Monday's airstrikes near the village of Taibe were meant to protect ground forces operating in the area and were not targeting anyone or anything specific, the army said.
In a second airstrike around the port city of Tyre, Israel accidentally killed a Lebanese soldier when it hit a car that it believed was carrying a senior Hezbollah official, the Israeli army said. Lebanese security officials said the soldier was killed by a rocket strike from a drone aircraft.
The Israeli army justified the action, saying the leader believed to have been in the car was a threat to Israel. Instead, the car was carrying a Lebanese army officer and soldiers.
"They were, of course, not the targets and we regret the incident," the army said.
Meanwhile, Hezbollah guerrillas attacked an Israeli tank in southern Lebanon, wounding three soldiers, the military said. The attack occurred near Kila and Taibe on the border, where Israeli ground forces have been fighting Hezbollah guerrillas for nearly two weeks.
Israel Radio also reported that Hezbollah rockets hit the northern town of Kiryat Shemona. No casualties were reported, the radio said.
AP Television News footage showed two Israeli tanks side by side in southern Lebanon, with flames suddenly covering one of them. Soldiers soon emerged from one tank and did not appear to be badly hurt.
Hours before the fighting resumed, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice urged the U.N. Security Council to arrange a cease-fire agreement by week's end that would include an international force to help Lebanese forces control southern Lebanon.
But Israeli Defense Minister Amir Peretz made clear that Israel would not agree to an immediate cease-fire and in fact planned to expand military operations in Lebanon.
"It's forbidden to agree to an immediate cease-fire," Peretz told parliament as several Arab legislators heckled him and demanded an immediate halt to the offensive. "Israel will expand and strengthen its activities against the Hezbollah."
State Department spokesman Adam Ereli had noted in a statement late Sunday that, in connection with the halt in bombing, "Israel, of course, has reserved the right to take action against targets preparing attack against it."
Israel's top ministers were to discuss expanding the army's ground operation at a meeting later Monday, while thousands of reserve soldiers trained for the possibility they will be sent into Lebanon to participate in the 20-day-long battle.
The bombing of the Lebanese village of Qana on Sunday led to demands around the world for an immediate cease-fire.
Olmert told Rice over the weekend that Israel would need 10-14 more days to finish its offensive, and Justice Minister Haim Ramon told Army Radio on Monday he did not believe the fighting was over yet.
"I'm convinced that we won't finish this war until it's clear that Hezbollah has no more abilities to attack Israel from south Lebanon. This is what we are striving for," Ramon said.
The stunning bloodshed in Qana increased international pressure on Washington to back an immediate end to the fighting and prompted Rice to cut short her Mideast mission to return home Monday.
In a nationally televised speech before leaving Israel, Rice said she will seek international consensus for a cease-fire and a "lasting settlement" in the conflict between Lebanon and Israel through a U.N. Security Council resolution this week.
"I am convinced that only by achieving both will the Lebanese people be able to control their country and their future, and the people of Israel finally be able to live free of attack from terrorist groups in Lebanon," Rice said.
The army said that the temporary cessation of aerial activity would allow the opening of corridors for Lebanese civilians who want to leave south Lebanon for the north and would maintain land, sea and air corridors for humanitarian assistance.
But Hezbollah legislator Hassan Fadlallah had Israel's motives, telling Lebanese television it was just "an attempt to absorb international indignation over the Qana massacre."
By early afternoon Monday, roads from villages into the port city of Tyre and heading north along the coast were packed with thousands of refugees in pickup trucks and cars. With many of the main roads too shattered for use, cars drove on dirt side roads with white flags fluttering out windows or white sheets covering the roofs.
Lebanese Red Cross teams escorted by U.N. observers went to the village of Srifa to dig up more than 50 bodies believed still buried under rubble since Israeli strikes wiped out an entire neighborhood on July 19. The bodies have begun decomposing, the Red Cross said.
The largest death toll from a single Israeli strike before Sunday was about a dozen, and the Qana attack, where at least 34 children and 12 women died, stunned Lebanese. Heightening the anger were memories of a 1996 Israeli artillery bombardment that hit a U.N. base in Qana, killing more than 100 Lebanese who had taken refuge there from fighting. That attack sparked an international outcry that forced a halt to an Israeli offensive.
Hezbollah vowed on its Al-Manar television: "The massacre at Qana will not go unanswered." It hit northern Israel on Sunday with 157 rockets -- the highest one-day total during the offensive -- with one Israeli wounded moderately and 12 others hurt slightly, medics said.
Thirty-three Israeli soldiers have died, and Hezbollah rocket attacks on northern Israel have killed 18 civilians, Israeli authorities said,
Israel apologized for the deaths and promised an investigation but said Hezbollah had fired more than 40 rockets from Qana before the airstrike, including several from near the building that was bombed. Foreign Ministry official Gideon Meir accused Hezbollah of "using their own civilian population as human shields."
More than 750,000 Lebanese have fled their homes in the fighting. But many thousands more are still believed holed up in the south -- many of them too afraid to flee on roads heavily hit by Israeli strikes.
The attack on Qana brought Lebanon's death toll to more than 510 and pushed American peace efforts to a crucial juncture as fury at the United States flared in Lebanon. The Beirut government said it would no longer negotiate over a U.S. peace package without an unconditional cease-fire.
At the United Nations, the Security Council approved a statement expressing "extreme shock and distress" at the bloodshed and calling for an end to violence, stopping short of a demand for an immediate cease-fire.
In a jab at the United States, Secretary-General Kofi Annan told the council in unusually frank terms that he was "deeply dismayed" his previous calls for a halt were ignored.
"Action is needed now before many more children, women and men become casualties of a conflict over which they have no control," he said.
7/31/2006 09:04:29
http://articles.news.aol.com/news/_a/is ... 5409990004
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theone666
- Major [O-4]
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Qana bombs an Israeli 'war crime'
Monday, 31 July 2006, 17:52 GMT 18:52 UK
A human rights group says the Israeli air strike on Qana that killed 54 civilians is a "war crime".
Human Rights Watch accused the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) of treating southern Lebanon as a "free-fire zone".
It said the failure to distinguish between civilians and combatants could be judged as a war crime, and called for an UN probe into the conflict.
Israel has insisted that Hezbollah sheltered in Qana and used it as a base to fire rockets across the border.
But Human Rights Watch called on a UN commission to investigate whether serious violations of international law had taken place during the conflict.
"The Israeli military seems to consider anyone left in the area a combatant who is fair game for attack," said Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch.
"Such consistent failure to distinguish combatants and civilians is a war crime."
Shocking attack
The Israeli air strike on the southern Lebanese village of Qana in the early hours of Sunday killed at least 54 Lebanese civilians, mostly children.
The carnage has prompted international outrage and urgent diplomacy to bring about a ceasefire between Israel and militant group Hezbollah.
The IDF said in a statement that Qana had been used since the beginning of events as a "hideout" and a place from where approximately 150 rockets had been fired into Israel.
The IDF also said that residents in the village and surrounding areas were warned in advance to stay out of areas where rockets were being launched at Israel.
"Even after this tragic event, the circumstances of which are still being investigated, we appeal to the residents of southern Lebanon to distance themselves from terrorists, to distance themselves from launch areas, for their own safety," said Maj Gen Gadi Eizenkot.
Targets
The UN's emergency relief co-ordinator was highly critical of Israel's strike in Qana, calling it "indiscriminate and excessive".
But Jan Egeland refused to absolve Hezbollah of a share of the blame, reminding the group that using civilian areas as a base for military operations had long been "illegal and immoral".
"It has been so for 100 years, simply for the very reason that you make the women and children as much a target as you are yourself," Mr Egeland said.
However, Human Rights Watch said responsibility for Qana rested "squarely with the Israeli military".
"Just because the Israeli military warned the civilians of Qana to leave does not give it carte blanche to blindly attack," said Mr Roth. "It still must make every possible effort to target only genuine combatants."
A human rights group says the Israeli air strike on Qana that killed 54 civilians is a "war crime".
Human Rights Watch accused the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) of treating southern Lebanon as a "free-fire zone".
It said the failure to distinguish between civilians and combatants could be judged as a war crime, and called for an UN probe into the conflict.
Israel has insisted that Hezbollah sheltered in Qana and used it as a base to fire rockets across the border.
But Human Rights Watch called on a UN commission to investigate whether serious violations of international law had taken place during the conflict.
"The Israeli military seems to consider anyone left in the area a combatant who is fair game for attack," said Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch.
"Such consistent failure to distinguish combatants and civilians is a war crime."
Shocking attack
The Israeli air strike on the southern Lebanese village of Qana in the early hours of Sunday killed at least 54 Lebanese civilians, mostly children.
The carnage has prompted international outrage and urgent diplomacy to bring about a ceasefire between Israel and militant group Hezbollah.
The IDF said in a statement that Qana had been used since the beginning of events as a "hideout" and a place from where approximately 150 rockets had been fired into Israel.
The IDF also said that residents in the village and surrounding areas were warned in advance to stay out of areas where rockets were being launched at Israel.
"Even after this tragic event, the circumstances of which are still being investigated, we appeal to the residents of southern Lebanon to distance themselves from terrorists, to distance themselves from launch areas, for their own safety," said Maj Gen Gadi Eizenkot.
Targets
The UN's emergency relief co-ordinator was highly critical of Israel's strike in Qana, calling it "indiscriminate and excessive".
But Jan Egeland refused to absolve Hezbollah of a share of the blame, reminding the group that using civilian areas as a base for military operations had long been "illegal and immoral".
"It has been so for 100 years, simply for the very reason that you make the women and children as much a target as you are yourself," Mr Egeland said.
However, Human Rights Watch said responsibility for Qana rested "squarely with the Israeli military".
"Just because the Israeli military warned the civilians of Qana to leave does not give it carte blanche to blindly attack," said Mr Roth. "It still must make every possible effort to target only genuine combatants."
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theone666
- Major [O-4]
- Posts: 1434
- Joined: Mon Nov 21, 2005 5:00 am
Israel's PM rules out ceasefire
Monday, 31 July 2006, 22:57 GMT 23:57 UK
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has said Israel is not ready to stop its offensive against Hezbollah in Lebanon.
"The fighting continues. There is no ceasefire and there will not be any ceasefire in the coming days," he said.
Mr Olmert apologised "for the pain caused" to Lebanese civilians, but said Hezbollah had suffered a severe blow.
In late-night discussions, Mr Olmert's security cabinet was reported to have approved plans to widen Israel's ground offensive in Lebanon.
Israel and Hezbollah traded fire on Monday, less than a day after Israel declared a partial halt to air strikes on south Lebanon.
Israeli warplanes struck several targets, killing a Lebanese soldier near the city of Tyre. Israel expressed regret over the death, saying it believed the vehicle was carrying a senior Hezbollah official.
Israeli officials said the pause was to allow time for an investigation into the Qana attack and for the UN to evacuate civilians from the area. However Israel reserved the right to continue targeting militants preparing attacks.
Fighting has also continued on the ground in southern Lebanon, with the villages of Taibe, Kila and Adasya coming under Israeli artillery fire.
Hezbollah fired two shells which landed on the outskirts of the Israeli border town of Kiryat Shmona, causing no injuries.
Israel's military said Hezbollah also hit an Israeli tank near Taibe, wounding three soldiers.
In other developments:
The UN Security Council extended the mandate of the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (Unifil) for one month
New York-based group Human Rights Watch accused Israel of committing war crimes by carrying out what it called an indiscriminate bombing campaign in Lebanon
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad told his country's army to raise its state of readiness in the face of "Israeli aggression", in a long-planned annual speech to the Syrian armed forces
Lebanon observed a national day of mourning following the deaths in Qana, with many banks and public buildings closed
'Fighting terrorists'
Speaking in Tel Aviv, Mr Olmert said Israel's campaign would continue until it achieved its goals.
"We will end it when the threat over our heads is removed, when our kidnapped soldiers return to their homes and when we can live in security," he said.
Israel began its offensive in Lebanon after Hezbollah militants captured two Israeli soldiers in a cross-border attack on 12 July. It is also fighting Palestinian militants in Gaza to secure the release of an Israeli soldier held captive there since 26 June.
Mr Olmert said Israel was "not fighting against the Lebanese people. We do not want to topple their government.
Later on, a statement from Mr Olmert's office said he told UK Prime Minister Tony Blair a ceasefire could be implemented "immediately" after the deployment of an international stabilisation force in Lebanon.
Mr Olmert's televised comments came hours after US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the US would seek a UN resolution calling for a ceasefire this week.
US President George W Bush meanwhile said on Monday that the UN had to address the "root causes of the problem".
"We want there to be a long-lasting peace, one that is sustainable," he said after meeting Cuban-American business leaders in Miami, Florida.
'Ghost village'
Israeli Defence Minister Amir Peretz described the 48-hour cessation of air strikes, from 0200 Monday (2300 GMT on Sunday) as a "humanitarian gesture".
At least 54 people, many of them children, were killed in Qana on Sunday when the house in which they were sheltering was hit by Israeli warplanes - the deadliest such raid since hostilities began.
The BBC's Jim Muir in Qana says the scene is one of utter desolation. He says Qana has become a ghost village like many others on the road up from the southern city of Tyre, with women and children now a rare sight.
After nearly three weeks of fighting, about 750 people - mainly civilians - have been killed by Israeli action, according to Lebanon's health minister.
A total of 51 Israelis, including at least 18 civilians, have also been killed in attacks by Hezbollah.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has said Israel is not ready to stop its offensive against Hezbollah in Lebanon.
"The fighting continues. There is no ceasefire and there will not be any ceasefire in the coming days," he said.
Mr Olmert apologised "for the pain caused" to Lebanese civilians, but said Hezbollah had suffered a severe blow.
In late-night discussions, Mr Olmert's security cabinet was reported to have approved plans to widen Israel's ground offensive in Lebanon.
Israel and Hezbollah traded fire on Monday, less than a day after Israel declared a partial halt to air strikes on south Lebanon.
Israeli warplanes struck several targets, killing a Lebanese soldier near the city of Tyre. Israel expressed regret over the death, saying it believed the vehicle was carrying a senior Hezbollah official.
Israeli officials said the pause was to allow time for an investigation into the Qana attack and for the UN to evacuate civilians from the area. However Israel reserved the right to continue targeting militants preparing attacks.
Fighting has also continued on the ground in southern Lebanon, with the villages of Taibe, Kila and Adasya coming under Israeli artillery fire.
Hezbollah fired two shells which landed on the outskirts of the Israeli border town of Kiryat Shmona, causing no injuries.
Israel's military said Hezbollah also hit an Israeli tank near Taibe, wounding three soldiers.
In other developments:
The UN Security Council extended the mandate of the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (Unifil) for one month
New York-based group Human Rights Watch accused Israel of committing war crimes by carrying out what it called an indiscriminate bombing campaign in Lebanon
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad told his country's army to raise its state of readiness in the face of "Israeli aggression", in a long-planned annual speech to the Syrian armed forces
Lebanon observed a national day of mourning following the deaths in Qana, with many banks and public buildings closed
'Fighting terrorists'
Speaking in Tel Aviv, Mr Olmert said Israel's campaign would continue until it achieved its goals.
"We will end it when the threat over our heads is removed, when our kidnapped soldiers return to their homes and when we can live in security," he said.
Israel began its offensive in Lebanon after Hezbollah militants captured two Israeli soldiers in a cross-border attack on 12 July. It is also fighting Palestinian militants in Gaza to secure the release of an Israeli soldier held captive there since 26 June.
Mr Olmert said Israel was "not fighting against the Lebanese people. We do not want to topple their government.
Later on, a statement from Mr Olmert's office said he told UK Prime Minister Tony Blair a ceasefire could be implemented "immediately" after the deployment of an international stabilisation force in Lebanon.
Mr Olmert's televised comments came hours after US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the US would seek a UN resolution calling for a ceasefire this week.
US President George W Bush meanwhile said on Monday that the UN had to address the "root causes of the problem".
"We want there to be a long-lasting peace, one that is sustainable," he said after meeting Cuban-American business leaders in Miami, Florida.
'Ghost village'
Israeli Defence Minister Amir Peretz described the 48-hour cessation of air strikes, from 0200 Monday (2300 GMT on Sunday) as a "humanitarian gesture".
At least 54 people, many of them children, were killed in Qana on Sunday when the house in which they were sheltering was hit by Israeli warplanes - the deadliest such raid since hostilities began.
The BBC's Jim Muir in Qana says the scene is one of utter desolation. He says Qana has become a ghost village like many others on the road up from the southern city of Tyre, with women and children now a rare sight.
After nearly three weeks of fighting, about 750 people - mainly civilians - have been killed by Israeli action, according to Lebanon's health minister.
A total of 51 Israelis, including at least 18 civilians, have also been killed in attacks by Hezbollah.
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theone666
- Major [O-4]
- Posts: 1434
- Joined: Mon Nov 21, 2005 5:00 am
Israeli Leader Vows No Cease-Fire
By RAVI NESSMAN and HAMZA HENDAWI, AP
JERUSALEM (July 31) - Israel's prime minister declared Monday that there would be no cease-fire with Hezbollah guerrillas, apologizing for the deaths of Lebanese civilians but saying "we will not give up on our goal to live a life free of terror." His Security Cabinet approved widening the ground offensive.
Israeli warplanes hit Hezbollah fighters battling with soldiers near the border as the guerrillas fired mortars into Israel. But an Israeli suspension of most airstrikes in Lebanon - and a pause by the guerrillas on rocket attacks in northern Israel - brought both countries their quietest day since the conflict began three weeks ago.
Lebanese fled north in overflowing trucks and cars. About 200 people - mostly elderly - escaped the border town of Bint Jbail, where Israeli troops and Hezbollah guerrillas fought their bloodiest clashes. Two residents dropped dead on the road out, one of malnutrition, the other of heart failure.
Some survivors described living on a piece of candy a day and dirty water as the fighting raged.
"All the time I thought of death," said Rimah Bazzi, an American visiting from Dearborn, Mich., who spent weeks hiding with her three children and mother in the house of a local doctor.
The lull was felt across northern Israel, too: In the town of Nahariya, residents who had been hiding in shelters for the better part of three weeks began emerging. Supermarkets were fuller than before and more people were in the streets, walking along the beach and shopping.
But diplomatic efforts to end the crisis faltered, despite increased world pressure for a cease-fire after the devastating strike in Qana.
Israel's Security Cabinet early Tuesday approved widening the ground offensive, a participant said, and rejected a cease-fire until an international force is in place in southern Lebanon.
The participant, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to reporters, said Israel's airstrikes would resume "in full force" after a 48-hour suspension expires in another day.
Thousands of army reserves have been called up in recent days in advance of the decision, which is expected to lead to sending more troops into the border area. Israeli leaders have said they want to carve out a zone about 1 mile wide that would be free of Hezbollah.
Israel called the 48-hour suspension after the Qana attack to give time for an investigation - though it said its warplanes would still hit urgent Hezbollah targets, and at least three strikes took place Monday.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert apologized for the civilian deaths in Saturday's strike, in which 56 people, mostly women and children, were killed.
"I am sorry from the bottom of my heart for all deaths of children or women in Qana," he said. "We did not search them out. ... They were not our enemies and we did not look for them."
But he insisted Israel, which began its offensive after Hezbollah snatched two soldiers and killed three others in a cross-border raid July 12, had no choice but to fight.
"There is no cease-fire, there will be no cease-fire," he said. "We are determined to succeed in this struggle. We will not give up on our goal to live a life free of terror."
Near the fighting, grass fires set by shelling blazed into the night sky from the hills outside the Lebanese border town of Marjayoun. U.N. peacekeepers struggled to get trucks full of aid supplies across the Litani River as artillery pounded only a few hills away.
President Bush resisted calls for an immediate halt to fighting, underlining that any peace deal must ensure that Hezbollah is crippled. He said Iran and Syria must stop backing the Shiite militant group with money and weapons.
"As we work with friends and allies, it's important to remember this crisis began with Hezbollah's unprovoked attacks against Israel. Israel is exercising its right to defend itself," Bush said.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice earlier in the day said she expected a U.N. resolution for a cease-fire within a week. But as she headed to Washington after a visit to Jerusalem derailed by the Qana strike, she struck a more pessimistic tone.
"There's a lot of work to do," she told reporters. "You have to get all the work done, you have to get it done urgently."
The central focus for a peace deal has been the deployment of a U.N.-mandated international force in southern Lebanon to ensure guerrillas do not attack Israel. But details of the force still must be worked out. With talks continuing, the U.N. postponed a Monday gathering meant to sound out contributions to a force.
Hezbollah's allies Syria and Iran quietly entered the diplomacy. Egypt was pressing Syria not to try to stop an international force in the south, diplomats in Cairo said. Iran's foreign minister pulled into Beirut for talks with his French and Lebanese counterparts.
Syrian President Bashar Assad called on his army Monday to increase readiness to cope with "regional challenges." Travelers from Syria have reported that some reservists have been called up for military duty - a sign that Syria is concerned the fighting in Lebanon could spill over.
Thousands of Lebanese took advantage of the lull in airstrikes to make a dash for safety farther north after weeks trapped in homes in the war zone, afraid to move because of intense missile strikes on roads.
Across the south, cars and trucks packed with women and children, mattresses strapped to the roofs and white flags streaming from the windows, made their way to the coast, then turned north. They passed flattened houses, shattered trees and burned-out cars strewn on the roadside.
At one point north of Tyre, vehicles gingerly made their way around a gigantic crater half filled with water into which a car had toppled when a missile struck.
In Qana, grocer Hassan Faraj - who had sworn a day earlier never to leave - jumped at the chance to escape. He shuttered his shop and loaded his wife and child into a van to go north into the mountains.
"My mother is very unwell, I must go and see her," he said, explaining his change of mind and insisting he was just dropping off his family to return.
Aid groups were caught off guard by the sudden break and struggled to rush aid to the south.
Outside Marjayoun, a U.N. peacekeepers' convoy carrying food found the bridges across the Litani destroyed. So the trucks drove across the knee-deep waters. Indian peacekeepers assembled a ramp out of stones to get them up the steep opposite bank.
Nearby, the battle raged between guerrillas and soldiers. Warplanes struck around the village of Taibeh to give ground cover after Hezbollah fighters hit a tank with an anti-tank missile. The guerrillas also fired mortars into the nearby Israeli town of Kiryat Shemona, causing no casualties.
Hezbollah announced that five of its fighters were killed in the clashes, bringing the group's acknowledged death toll to 43. Israel says dozens more fighters have died.
Israel carried out two other airstrikes. One killed a Lebanese soldier in his car outside Tyre, prompting Israel to express its regrets, saying it had believed the vehicle was carrying a senior Hezbollah official. The other strike hit the main Lebanon-Syria border crossing for the third day in a row.
Hezbollah also claimed to have hit an Israeli warship off the coast of Tyre with a rocket, the second hit it would have scored on a ship. But Israel denied any of its warships were hit Monday.
The guerrilla group did not shoot a single rocket into Israel as of early evening, a remarkable turnaround for an area that had been hit by dozens of missiles each day during the offensive.
At least 524 people have been killed in Lebanon since the fighting began, according to the Health Ministry. Fifty-one Israelis have died, including 33 soldiers and 18 civilians who died in rocket attacks.
Hamza Hendawi reported from Marjayoun, Lebanon. AP writers Tom Wagner in Jerusalem, Mark Lavie in Tel Aviv, Lee Keath in Beirut, Kathy Gannon in Bint Jbail and Katherine Shrader traveling with Rice contributed to this story.
AP-NY-07-31-06 1900EDT
JERUSALEM (July 31) - Israel's prime minister declared Monday that there would be no cease-fire with Hezbollah guerrillas, apologizing for the deaths of Lebanese civilians but saying "we will not give up on our goal to live a life free of terror." His Security Cabinet approved widening the ground offensive.
Israeli warplanes hit Hezbollah fighters battling with soldiers near the border as the guerrillas fired mortars into Israel. But an Israeli suspension of most airstrikes in Lebanon - and a pause by the guerrillas on rocket attacks in northern Israel - brought both countries their quietest day since the conflict began three weeks ago.
Lebanese fled north in overflowing trucks and cars. About 200 people - mostly elderly - escaped the border town of Bint Jbail, where Israeli troops and Hezbollah guerrillas fought their bloodiest clashes. Two residents dropped dead on the road out, one of malnutrition, the other of heart failure.
Some survivors described living on a piece of candy a day and dirty water as the fighting raged.
"All the time I thought of death," said Rimah Bazzi, an American visiting from Dearborn, Mich., who spent weeks hiding with her three children and mother in the house of a local doctor.
The lull was felt across northern Israel, too: In the town of Nahariya, residents who had been hiding in shelters for the better part of three weeks began emerging. Supermarkets were fuller than before and more people were in the streets, walking along the beach and shopping.
But diplomatic efforts to end the crisis faltered, despite increased world pressure for a cease-fire after the devastating strike in Qana.
Israel's Security Cabinet early Tuesday approved widening the ground offensive, a participant said, and rejected a cease-fire until an international force is in place in southern Lebanon.
The participant, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to reporters, said Israel's airstrikes would resume "in full force" after a 48-hour suspension expires in another day.
Thousands of army reserves have been called up in recent days in advance of the decision, which is expected to lead to sending more troops into the border area. Israeli leaders have said they want to carve out a zone about 1 mile wide that would be free of Hezbollah.
Israel called the 48-hour suspension after the Qana attack to give time for an investigation - though it said its warplanes would still hit urgent Hezbollah targets, and at least three strikes took place Monday.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert apologized for the civilian deaths in Saturday's strike, in which 56 people, mostly women and children, were killed.
"I am sorry from the bottom of my heart for all deaths of children or women in Qana," he said. "We did not search them out. ... They were not our enemies and we did not look for them."
But he insisted Israel, which began its offensive after Hezbollah snatched two soldiers and killed three others in a cross-border raid July 12, had no choice but to fight.
"There is no cease-fire, there will be no cease-fire," he said. "We are determined to succeed in this struggle. We will not give up on our goal to live a life free of terror."
Near the fighting, grass fires set by shelling blazed into the night sky from the hills outside the Lebanese border town of Marjayoun. U.N. peacekeepers struggled to get trucks full of aid supplies across the Litani River as artillery pounded only a few hills away.
President Bush resisted calls for an immediate halt to fighting, underlining that any peace deal must ensure that Hezbollah is crippled. He said Iran and Syria must stop backing the Shiite militant group with money and weapons.
"As we work with friends and allies, it's important to remember this crisis began with Hezbollah's unprovoked attacks against Israel. Israel is exercising its right to defend itself," Bush said.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice earlier in the day said she expected a U.N. resolution for a cease-fire within a week. But as she headed to Washington after a visit to Jerusalem derailed by the Qana strike, she struck a more pessimistic tone.
"There's a lot of work to do," she told reporters. "You have to get all the work done, you have to get it done urgently."
The central focus for a peace deal has been the deployment of a U.N.-mandated international force in southern Lebanon to ensure guerrillas do not attack Israel. But details of the force still must be worked out. With talks continuing, the U.N. postponed a Monday gathering meant to sound out contributions to a force.
Hezbollah's allies Syria and Iran quietly entered the diplomacy. Egypt was pressing Syria not to try to stop an international force in the south, diplomats in Cairo said. Iran's foreign minister pulled into Beirut for talks with his French and Lebanese counterparts.
Syrian President Bashar Assad called on his army Monday to increase readiness to cope with "regional challenges." Travelers from Syria have reported that some reservists have been called up for military duty - a sign that Syria is concerned the fighting in Lebanon could spill over.
Thousands of Lebanese took advantage of the lull in airstrikes to make a dash for safety farther north after weeks trapped in homes in the war zone, afraid to move because of intense missile strikes on roads.
Across the south, cars and trucks packed with women and children, mattresses strapped to the roofs and white flags streaming from the windows, made their way to the coast, then turned north. They passed flattened houses, shattered trees and burned-out cars strewn on the roadside.
At one point north of Tyre, vehicles gingerly made their way around a gigantic crater half filled with water into which a car had toppled when a missile struck.
In Qana, grocer Hassan Faraj - who had sworn a day earlier never to leave - jumped at the chance to escape. He shuttered his shop and loaded his wife and child into a van to go north into the mountains.
"My mother is very unwell, I must go and see her," he said, explaining his change of mind and insisting he was just dropping off his family to return.
Aid groups were caught off guard by the sudden break and struggled to rush aid to the south.
Outside Marjayoun, a U.N. peacekeepers' convoy carrying food found the bridges across the Litani destroyed. So the trucks drove across the knee-deep waters. Indian peacekeepers assembled a ramp out of stones to get them up the steep opposite bank.
Nearby, the battle raged between guerrillas and soldiers. Warplanes struck around the village of Taibeh to give ground cover after Hezbollah fighters hit a tank with an anti-tank missile. The guerrillas also fired mortars into the nearby Israeli town of Kiryat Shemona, causing no casualties.
Hezbollah announced that five of its fighters were killed in the clashes, bringing the group's acknowledged death toll to 43. Israel says dozens more fighters have died.
Israel carried out two other airstrikes. One killed a Lebanese soldier in his car outside Tyre, prompting Israel to express its regrets, saying it had believed the vehicle was carrying a senior Hezbollah official. The other strike hit the main Lebanon-Syria border crossing for the third day in a row.
Hezbollah also claimed to have hit an Israeli warship off the coast of Tyre with a rocket, the second hit it would have scored on a ship. But Israel denied any of its warships were hit Monday.
The guerrilla group did not shoot a single rocket into Israel as of early evening, a remarkable turnaround for an area that had been hit by dozens of missiles each day during the offensive.
At least 524 people have been killed in Lebanon since the fighting began, according to the Health Ministry. Fifty-one Israelis have died, including 33 soldiers and 18 civilians who died in rocket attacks.
Hamza Hendawi reported from Marjayoun, Lebanon. AP writers Tom Wagner in Jerusalem, Mark Lavie in Tel Aviv, Lee Keath in Beirut, Kathy Gannon in Bint Jbail and Katherine Shrader traveling with Rice contributed to this story.
AP-NY-07-31-06 1900EDT
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Israel to widen ground offensive
Tuesday, 1 August 2006, 01:05 GMT 02:05 UK
The Israeli cabinet has agreed to widen the country's ground offensive against Hezbollah in southern Lebanon.
The decision, made at a closed door session, received unanimous approval, according to a senior political source.
The government is also planning to call up thousands more reservists, Israeli radio reported.
Earlier Prime Minister Ehud Olmert ruled out an immediate truce, saying Israel would continue its offensive as long as its security was threatened.
Mr Olmert also reiterated calls for the release of the two Israeli soldiers seized by Hezbollah - whose capture in a cross-border raid sparked the conflict on 12 July.
Speaking in Tel Aviv he said the offensive would end "when the threat over our heads is removed (and) when our kidnapped soldiers return to their homes".
On Monday, Israel agreed to a 48-hour suspension of air strikes to allow an investigation into air strikes on the village of Qana in which some 54 civilians died.
According to the source, Israel's air strikes in Lebanon would resume "in full force" after the 48-hour suspension expired.
But less than a day after the agreement, Israeli planes bombed parts of southern Lebanon.
Israel said it was responding to attacks by Hezbollah.
Aid crisis
The United Nations meanwhile said there had been no improvement in access for aid agencies to southern Lebanon since the Israeli suspension of air strikes.
Aid agencies said they were having to ask Israel for safe passage for each aid convoy three days in advance and had not received enough notice to take advantage of the suspension.
Two convoys reached the Lebanese port of Tyre on Monday after a long detour through the mountains because of bomb damage to the main coast road.
Further diplomatic moves were made on Monday with the French and Iranian foreign ministers meeting in Beirut as part of continuing efforts to resolve the crisis.
Neither minister commented after the meeting, but earlier French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy said it was vital to include Iran - which backs Hezbollah - in the process.
On Tuesday, European Union foreign ministers will meet in Brussels for emergency talks on the crisis.
After nearly three weeks of fighting, about 750 people - mainly civilians - have been killed by Israeli action, according to Lebanon's health minister.
A total of 51 Israelis, including at least 18 civilians, have been killed by Hezbollah - which has been fighting Israeli incursions and sending rockets into northern Israel.
The Israeli cabinet has agreed to widen the country's ground offensive against Hezbollah in southern Lebanon.
The decision, made at a closed door session, received unanimous approval, according to a senior political source.
The government is also planning to call up thousands more reservists, Israeli radio reported.
Earlier Prime Minister Ehud Olmert ruled out an immediate truce, saying Israel would continue its offensive as long as its security was threatened.
Mr Olmert also reiterated calls for the release of the two Israeli soldiers seized by Hezbollah - whose capture in a cross-border raid sparked the conflict on 12 July.
Speaking in Tel Aviv he said the offensive would end "when the threat over our heads is removed (and) when our kidnapped soldiers return to their homes".
On Monday, Israel agreed to a 48-hour suspension of air strikes to allow an investigation into air strikes on the village of Qana in which some 54 civilians died.
According to the source, Israel's air strikes in Lebanon would resume "in full force" after the 48-hour suspension expired.
But less than a day after the agreement, Israeli planes bombed parts of southern Lebanon.
Israel said it was responding to attacks by Hezbollah.
Aid crisis
The United Nations meanwhile said there had been no improvement in access for aid agencies to southern Lebanon since the Israeli suspension of air strikes.
Aid agencies said they were having to ask Israel for safe passage for each aid convoy three days in advance and had not received enough notice to take advantage of the suspension.
Two convoys reached the Lebanese port of Tyre on Monday after a long detour through the mountains because of bomb damage to the main coast road.
Further diplomatic moves were made on Monday with the French and Iranian foreign ministers meeting in Beirut as part of continuing efforts to resolve the crisis.
Neither minister commented after the meeting, but earlier French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy said it was vital to include Iran - which backs Hezbollah - in the process.
On Tuesday, European Union foreign ministers will meet in Brussels for emergency talks on the crisis.
After nearly three weeks of fighting, about 750 people - mainly civilians - have been killed by Israeli action, according to Lebanon's health minister.
A total of 51 Israelis, including at least 18 civilians, have been killed by Hezbollah - which has been fighting Israeli incursions and sending rockets into northern Israel.