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Israel says `no' to ceasefire

14 Lebanese killed in air raids; Rice back in West Asia to pursue truce efforts

— PHOTO: AP

A LOUD MESSAGE: Protesters gathered on Parnell Square in Dublin, Ireland, on Saturday at a rally organised by a coalition against the Israeli bombardment of Lebanon and the Gaza Strip.

JERUSALEM: Israel continued its deadly bombardment of Lebanon for the 18th straight day on Saturday as U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice arrived in Israel in a bid to broker an end to the conflict.

Rejecting a call by the United Nations relief chief for a three-day truce to allow in desperately needed humanitarian aid, Israel launched a new wave of air strikes and refused to set a date for ending its war on Hizbollah that has killed hundreds of persons and made hundreds of thousands homeless.

The latest victims were 14 civilians, including children, killed in separate air raids on southern Lebanon on Saturday, taking the toll of the dead to 453 — most of them civilians.

U.N. humanitarian coordinator Jan Egeland had appealed for a truce to allow casualties to be removed and food and medicine to be sent into the war zone, saying one third of the casualties in the conflict were children.

But Israeli Foreign Ministry official Gideon Meir said: ``We cannot accept a ceasefire with Hizbollah because this terrorist organisation would exploit it to gather civilians to use them as a human shield in the combat zone.''

En route to Jerusalem for the second time in less than a week, Ms. Rice said she was expecting a ``fairly intense'' round of talks with ``give and take'' on both sides, but that she was encouraged by some progress.

``We are not setting a deadline, but obviously as we want an early end to the violence it is important that we get agreement on the elements,'' said Ms. Rice.

Israel, which is facing tougher than expected resistance from Hizbollah, said it had pulled its forces back from the key Lebanese border town of Bint Jbeil, a Hizbollah stronghold that has been the scene of the deadliest combat.

Tanks and armoured vehicles pulled back from Bint Jbeil towards Marun al-Ras, a strategic hilltop village closer to the border that Israeli forces captured last weekend.

But from the air, Israel continued to pound Hizbollah targets, including a launch pad it suspected was used to fire a new type of missile that hit Afula, 50 km south of the border.

With 800,000 Lebanese displaced, the Red Cross criticised the ``unacceptable'' humanitarian situation and said Israel had to do much more to spare civilians. — Agencies

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