Tel Aviv to halt air offensive for 48 hours

• Article
• Comments ()
• Click-2-Listen
• Videos

By

TEL AVIV -- Israel agreed last night to halt its air attacks in Lebanon for at least 48 hours to let residents flee from southern Lebanese villages and to enable an investigation of a deadly Israeli air strike in Qana, U.S. officials said.

The decision, announced by State Department spokesman Adam Ereli, came amid an international uproar after Israel's military killed dozens of civilians -- most of them children -- in an air strike on a Lebanese village.

The strike torpedoed Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's second effort at shuttle diplomacy in a week. She canceled talks in Beirut and scheduled a return home today, saying she wants a cease-fire in Middle East fighting "as soon as possible."

Mr. Ereli said that Miss Rice had been pressing Israel for a brief stoppage in the bombing even before the Qana bombing.

"The United States welcomes this decision and hopes that it will help relieve the suffering of the children and families of southern Lebanon," the Associated Press quoted him as saying.

The two-day halt to the bombings came before the U.N. Security Council, meeting in an emergency session, unanimously approved a statement expressing "extreme shock and distress" about the Qana attack and urging "a lasting settlement of the crisis."

Israel's agreement to halt air strikes for two days, effective as of last night, will include provisions for residents of southern Lebanon to safely leave their towns. Many have been killed in vehicles while fleeing northward despite Israeli fliers warning them to leave.

The bombing pause will also permit food and medicine to be trucked to residents of the south. The pause does not apply to ground operations.

Miss Rice said she would continue to work from Washington for a United Nations' resolution combining a cease-fire with measures to insert an international force between Israel and Hezbollah, which sparked Israel's assault by kidnapping two soldiers on July 12.

President Bush, at a White House T-ball game for disabled children, said, "Today's actions in the Middle East remind us that friends and allies must work together for a sustainable peace particularly for the sake of children."