UNITED NATIONS, July 31: The UN Security Council on Sunday expressed “extreme shock and distress” over the killing of Lebanese civilians by Israeli airstrikes in Qana, but United States succeeded in blocking the Council to call for an immediate end to hostilities.

The Council, in a statement, deplored the loss of innocent lives, called for “an end to violence” and cited the “urgency of securing a lasting, permanent and sustainable ceasefire.

US Ambassador John Bolton, said after a marathon meeting of the council, that what the United States had objected to was “conclusionary language about the nature of the incident and language that attempted to foreshadow the political solution,” which he said was being pursued by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

The statement adopted by the Council said: “It strongly deplores this loss of innocent lives and the killing of civilians in the present conflict and requests the Secretary-General to report to it within one week on the circumstances of this tragic incident.”

“The Security Council affirms its determination to work without any further delay to adopt a resolution for a lasting settlement of the crisis, drawing on diplomatic efforts under way,” the statement said.

The presidential statement was adopted after prolonged consultations among Council members. Despite strong support from most council members for an immediate cease-fire, the statement only called for an end to the violence and an urgent long-term solution to the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, and mentioning of “calling for a cessation of the current violence” was dropped.

In the three weeks since fighting began, the Security Council’s only response has been a weak statement expressing shock and distress at Israel’s bombing of a UN post on the Lebanon border on Tuesday that killed four unarmed military observers. The United States, acting as a “proxy of Israel”, has refused to agree to seek a cease-fire an angry diplomat said after the end of the Council meeting.

After the adoption of the presidential statement, Russian ambassador to the UN Vitaly Churkin said the statement reflects intensive efforts to bring the Security Council out of the state of passively observing what is going on. “These are important things for the Security Council to work intensively to resolve the crisis,” he said.

The current Security Council president, France’s UN ambassador Jean-Marc de la Sabliere said that the statement showed the determination of the Council to help end the violence.

He said the Security Council had been discussing the issue for weeks, with little results. Though the statement is a compromise, the important thing is the Council is now engaged.