AL QUDS, July 29: Israel continued its deadly bombardment of Lebanon for the 18th straight day on Saturday as US 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 Hezbollah that has killed hundreds of people and made hundreds of thousands homeless.

The latest victims were 12 civilians, including children, killed in separate air raids on southern Lebanon on Saturday, taking the toll of the dead to 451 — most of them civilians, according to an AFP count.

UN 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 Hezbollah because this terrorist organisation would exploit it to gather civilians to use them as a human shield in the combat zone.”

Meir said Prime Minister Ehud Olmert had already agreed to set up humanitarian corridors, although aid groups have complained they have little access to south Lebanon which has borne the brunt of the Israeli onslaught.

En route to Al Quds for the second time in less than a week, 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 Rice. “I think there are a lot of elements that are coming together.”

Rice hailed as a “positive step” a Lebanese cabinet agreement on a ceasefire plan outlined by Prime Minister Fuad Siniora which calls for a prisoner exchange and for the government to assert its sovereignty over the Hezbollah-controlled south.

US President George W. Bush said that during her mission, Rice would “work with Israel and Lebanon to come up with an acceptable UN Security Council resolution that we can table next week”.—AFP

Peacekeepers wounded