Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert yesterday brushed aside international calls for a halt to Israel's military offensive in Lebanon, declaring there would be no ceasefire in the battle with Hizbullah, which entered its 20th day yesterday.
"The fighting continues," Mr Olmert told a meeting of mayors in Tel Aviv. "There is no ceasefire and there will not be any ceasefire in the coming days." Israel's "security cabinet", a body made up of senior ministers, was meeting last night to discuss whether to expand ground operations in south Lebanon.
After Israel agreed to a 48-hour hiatus in its aerial bombing campaign, following the killing of at least 54 civilians, 37 of whom were children, in an air strike on Sunday on the village of Qana, officials in Jerusalem began hinting that the military campaign could be over by the end of the week, with the UN Security Council declaring a ceasefire by Saturday.
Israeli and US officials said the let-up in bombing was to allow for an inquiry into the Qana deaths and to enable residents of south Lebanon trapped in the fighting to travel north.
US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice, who left Jerusalem yesterday after ceasefire talks with Mr Olmert, strengthened the sense that the fighting was close to ending when she told reporters as she headed back to Washington: "I take with me an emerging consensus on what is necessary for both an urgent ceasefire and lasting settlement. I am convinced we can achieve both this week."
While President Bush said he would push for UN action this week on ending the fighting, but again resisted calling for an immediate ceasefire. He also made clear he did not plan to send US troops to be part of an international force to stabilise the region.
While Israel yesterday scaled back its aerial campaign significantly, Hizbullah also refrained from firing rockets into northern Israel. Several mortar shells fell on the northern town of Kiryat Shmona, but did not cause any injuries.
On the ground, however, the Israeli military continued its operations against Hizbullah positions some 3km inside Lebanon. And Mr Olmert's speech appeared to indicate that he planned to continue - and possibly even intensify - Israel's offensive.
He warned that Israel still faced "not a small number of days of fighting" until the threat posed by Hizbullah on its northern border had been removed. "We should be ready for pain, tears and blood," he said. "Missiles and rockets will still land in Israel in the coming days."
Civilians fled battered villages in southern Lebanon, taking advantage of the 48-hour hiatus, and aid convoys headed into the area to deliver supplies. Rescue workers found 49 bodies buried for days in collapsed buildings or inside destroyed vehicles.
The Israeli military said it had launched a new ground incursion into Lebanon in the Aita al-Shaab area. Hizbullah said its guerrillas were fiercely resisting the advance.
There were reports last night that Mr Olmert planned to continue Israel's offensive until an international peacekeeping force has been deployed in south Lebanon, with the purpose of keeping Hizbullah away from the border.
Such a deployment is at the centre of diplomatic efforts aimed at brokering a ceasefire.
The Israeli leader apologised for the Qana bombing, saying he was "sorry from the bottom of my heart for all deaths of children or women in Qana. We did not search them out . . . they were not our enemies and we did not look for them."
Syrian president Bashar al-Assad told the Syrian military yesterday to "raise its readiness", pledging not to abandon support for Lebanese resistance against Israel.