Israel today agreed on a 48-hour suspension, effective immediately, of its airstrikes in southern Lebanon, said a US official.

 

State Department spokesman Adam Ereli told reporters that the agreement was reached after visiting US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's talks with top Israeli officials.

 

"Israel has agreed to a 48-hour suspension of aerial activity in south Lebanon," while it investigates the Qana bombings, Ereli said.

 

He also revealed that Israel would coordinate with the UN on a 24-hour period of "safe passage" for civilians wishing to leave southern Lebanon.

 

Israeli daily Ha'aretz reported that Israel has agreed to suspend its air strike of southern Lebanon for 48 hours to allow for an investigation into earlier Sunday's bombing of Qana Village in southern Lebanon.

 

Israeli missiles hit several buildings in Qana earlier on Sunday, killing at least 54, mostly children.

 

The deadliest attack in 19 days of fighting drew vehement condemnation from the international community, especially from the Arab world.

 

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Defense Minister Amir Peretz and Israel Defense Forces' Chief of General Staff Dan Halutz expressed regret after the tragedy, but vowed to keep on fighting the Lebanese Hezbollah.

 

Olmert underlined that the Qana area was a focal point that Hezbollah used for firing Katyusha rockets on northern Israeli towns, adding that from the outset of the conflict "hundreds of rockets have been fired from the Qana area."

 

(Xinhua News Agency July 31, 2006)