Israel stymies humanitarian truce call

Israel has rejected a call by the United Nations (UN) for a 72-hour pause in fighting in southern Lebanon to allow humanitarian aid to get to trapped civilians.

The UN says the temporary cease-fire is also needed to enable relief workers to evacuate elderly, young and wounded people.

But Israeli Government spokesman Avi Pazner says the halt is not necessary because Israel has opened a humanitarian corridor to and from Lebanon

Mr Pazner says Israel is not blocking aid from reaching south Lebanon.

"The problem is completely different," he said.

"It is Hezbollah which is deliberately preventing the transfer of medical aid and food to the population of southern Lebanon in order to create a humanitarian crisis, which they want to blame Israel for."

Senior Israeli Foreign Ministry official Gideon Meir says a truce would be dangerous for his country.

"We cannot accept a cease-fire with Hezbollah because this terrorist organisation would exploit it to gather civilians to use them as a human shield in the combat zone," he said.

He says Israel yesterday allowed three trucks to bring food and medicine to areas in south Lebanon.

Mr Meir says that from tomorrow, a UN representative will be present at a humanitarian relief centre that has been set up by the Israeli army at the border to organise humanitarian aid for south Lebanon.

UN humanitarian coordinator Jan Egeland appealed for the truce on Friday, but Mr Meir says he has not yet formally presented his proposal to the Israeli Government.

Fears for Australians

Federal Opposition foreign affairs spokesman Kevin Rudd has backed the cease-fire proposal.

He is also urging the Federal Government to step up efforts to negotiate the safe passage of Australians out of Lebanon.

The call comes after a convoy including several Australians came under mortar attack in southern Lebanon.

There have been no reports of any injuries amongst the Australians.

Mr Rudd supports calls for humanitarian corridors to be set up to allow foreign nationals to get out of the troubled region.

"We still have a large number of Australians who cannot get out of the southern most war-torn parts of this country," Mr Rudd said.

"What this also points to is the need for a cease-fire which has Hezbollah ceasing its rocket attacks on Israel, the return of Israeli troops and Israel itself ceasing all hostilities."

Rice's visit

On the diplomatic front, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is on her way back to the region to promote plans for the establishment of a multinational peacekeeping force in a buffer zone between Israel and Lebanon.

On her way to Jerusalem, Dr Rice has welcomed as a "positive step" the agreement by Hezbollah members of the Lebanese Cabinet to seek an immediate cease-fire that would include the disarming of militias.

She has praised Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora for persuading Hezbollah to agree.

On Thursday, the Lebanese Cabinet, which includes two ministers loyal to Hezbollah, unanimously approved seven points that Mr Siniora had made to the international conference in Rome on Wednesday.

These points included extending the authority of the state across the whole country and boosting international forces in the south to help the Lebanese army take control of the area. Hezbollah currently controls south Lebanon.

At the Rome conference, Mr Siniora asked for an immediate cease-fire and implementation of agreements that called for the disarming of militias.

Bodies found

Meanwhile, southern Lebanon's civil defence chief, Salam Daher, says the bodies of eight civilians have been found on the roads of southern Lebanon following Israeli bombardments on the region.

"We retrieved from a destroyed car the bodies of a man, his wife and their three children who were killed three days ago on the Maarub-Dardghia road, near the southern port city of Tyre," he said.

He says the bodies of three other civilians killed by shrapnel, some partly decomposed, have been found on roads near Tyre.

The deaths bring to 438 the number of people killed, including 367 civilians, in Lebanon by the Israeli offensive that was launched after Hezbollah captured two Israeli soldiers in a cross-border raid on July 12.

Rescue workers say dozens more civilians, including a large number of children, are still buried under the rubble of houses destroyed in Israeli air strikes around Tyre.

Hezbollah has announced the death of 32 of its fighters, including two rescue workers, while its Shiite ally Amal has reported the death of six of its militants since July 12.

A total of 51 Israelis have also died in cross-border fighting, most of them soldiers.

Retreat

Lebanese police say Israeli forces have pulled back from positions on the outskirts of a Hezbollah stronghold town in south Lebanon that has been the scene of deadly battles.

They say tanks and armoured vehicles have left the hills overlooking the main border town of Bint Jbeil late last night and returned to Marun Al-Ras, which was captured by Israeli forces on July 23.

But police say Israeli troops are continuing to bomb Bint Jbeil and nearby Aitarun.

Advancing Israeli forces have encountered fierce resistance from Hezbollah guerrillas since they moved across the border, stepping up their massive air and ground offensive in Lebanon.

Nine soldiers were killed on July 26 in the heaviest single-day toll since the conflict began on July 12, when Hezbollah captured two Israeli soldiers in a deadly cross-border raid.

Israel's security cabinet decided on Thursday to step up its air war against Lebanon and call up thousands of reserve troops but also said it would restrict ground operations.

After initially vowing to destroy Hezbollah, Israel is now seeking to expel the militia from a two-kilometre strip along Lebanon's side of the border and occupy the zone until a mooted international force can take over.

'Environmental catastrophe'

Meanwhile, Lebanese Environment Minister Yacub Sarraf says Israel's bombardment of fuel tanks at a power plant in southern Lebanon has caused the biggest environmental disaster ever in the Mediterranean.

Israel bombed the power station in Jiyeh two weeks ago.

"Up until now, 10,000 to 15,000 tonnes of heavy fuel oil have spilled out into the sea," Mr Sarraf said.

"It's without doubt the biggest environmental catastrophe that the Mediterranean has known and it risks having terrible consequences, not only for our country but for all the countries of the eastern Mediterranean.

"When the Israelis bombed those storage facilities for fuel, they knew very well that we would have an environmental catastrophe because the tanks are actually located something like 25 metres away from the sea.

"And they knew very well that the storage capacity was approximately 70,000 tonnes.

"And this is the first time in the history of this area that we are subject to such a tremendous stress on our environment."

- ABC/Reuters/AFP