UNITED NATIONS, Aug 1: In an emotional address to the 15-member UN Security Council on Monday, Lebanese acting Foreign Minister Tarek Mitri pleaded with it to order ceasefire by Israel in the war and order inquiry into the Israeli bombing in Qana which killed at least 64 people mostly children.

“The spilled blood of the children in Qana deserves much more than expressions of regret,” said Mr Mitri. On Sunday the council was unable to condemn Israeli attacks or call for ceasefire under American pressure.

“We owe our people an honourable way out of this war,” Mr Mitri pleaded with the Security Council. “In the name of Lebanon, I appeal to you all to put an end to this human tragedy.”

Mr Mitri said Lebanon’s cabinet had approved a seven-point plan to end the conflict, which would require an immediate cease-fire, a withdrawal of Israeli forces from Lebanon, a release of Lebanese and Israeli prisoners taken during the conflict, and the deployment of an international peacekeeping force in the southern part of the country.

The council meeting which turned into a verbal sparring match between Israeli Ambassador Dan Gillerman and Mr Mitri.

“Isn’t it time that Lebanon took its fate into its own hands rather than keep crying out to the Security Council and to the international community”, Gillerman mocked Mr Mitri.

He said Israel had no quarrel with Lebanon, only with its government’s allowing the country to be taken over by groups like Hezbollah. Mr Mitri said.

“When mistakes become a pattern of behaviour,” he said: “They then deserve another name, they qualify as crimes.”

Mr Gillerman replied that Lebanon had allowed violence to take over the country. “No baby is born wanting to be a suicide bomber,” he said. “But if that is the kind of culture they grow up in, violence breeds violence.”