Israel rejects UN aid truce call
BBC

Israel has rejected a United Nations call for a three-day truce in southern Lebanon, as US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice arrives in Israel. The UN says children, elderly and disabled are trapped and supplies are short after two weeks of fighting.

But an Israeli spokesman said there was no need for a truce as they had opened a humanitarian corridor to the area.

Ms Rice is expected to discuss proposals to deploy a multinational force in southern Lebanon.

However, the UN has warned the deaths of four of its personnel may deter countries from contributing to a future force.


The UN says some 600 people have been killed by Israeli action in Lebanon, of which about a third were children.

Fifty-one Israelis, including at least 18 civilians, have been killed, mostly by Hezbollah rockets.

The Israeli assault began after Hezbollah captured two Israeli soldiers and killed eight in a cross-border raid on 12 July.

In other developments:



  • A mother and her five children have been killed in a new wave of Israeli air raids on Lebanon
  • Israeli forces say they have pulled out of the southern Lebanese town of Bint Jbeil, which has seen heavy clashes
  • Lebanon has said an Israeli attack on fuel tanks at a power plant has created the biggest environmental disaster the Mediterranean region has known
  • Several rockets have been launched at the northern Israel town of Safid amid further fire by Hezbollah.
Israeli officials have indicated to the BBC that Israel may be willing to stop fighting as soon as a UN resolution is passed next week - and before the arrival of international peacekeepers.

But they say a ceasefire must meet certain key conditions, including a guarantee that Hezbollah will not move back into positions close to the border nor re-arm.

Meanwhile, Israeli military sources have indicated that the fighting could intensify.

The BBC's diplomatic correspondent Paul Adams says Israel would prefer a deal but they are publicly prepared to continue fighting if they do not get one.

'Think hard'

The US secretary of state is expected to talk to Israeli and Lebanese leaders about proposals to deploy a multinational force, as part of what US President George W Bush calls a viable plan for ending hostilities.

World leaders are due to discuss a deployment at a meeting at the UN headquarters in New York on Monday.

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said countries who may be in a position to contribute troops would attend the meeting on the proposal, which is due for discussion by the Security Council later next week.

Earlier, the UN deputy chief issued a warning over the peacekeeper deaths in an Israeli strike on a UN base.

Mark Malloch-Brown said they had accepted Israel's apology, but still had "serious concerns" about what happened.

UN officials said they had contacted Israel a dozen times before the bombing and asked them to stop firing, which Israel did not.

Mr Malloch-Brown said the losses posed a "very serious threat to the whole concept of neutral peacekeeping.

"Peacekeeping is a dangerous business and we depend on the support of the international community," he said.

Washington would have to "think hard" about the consequences of its failure to condemn the killings for the recruitment of an international force, he added.

The UN Security Council issued a statement voicing "shock and distress" at the deaths, after the US blocked calls for harsher criticism of Israel.