US Tries To Broker Ceasefire With Netanyahu As More Die In Lebanon And Israel

Senior US officials held talks in Israel yesterday aimed at brokering a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon, as more civilians in both countries were killed by airstrikes.

- William Christou Bekaa valley Julian Borger Jerusalem

Lebanon's caretaker prime minister, Najib Mikati, who early yesterday expressed hopes for a settlement "in hours or days", later warned that Israel's "ongoing escalation" in his country "does not inspire optimism".

The country's health ministry said that Israeli attacks had killed 45 people in the past 24 hours, amid bombing in the north-east Bekaa valley and infantry battles in the south.

In northern Israel, seven people were killed by rocket fire from Lebanon, including four Thai agricultural workers, the worst civilian losses in Israel on a single day since the Israeli ground incursions into Lebanon began on 1 October.

Israel issued its second evacuation order for the city of Baalbek and two surrounding villages in the Bekaa valley yesterday afternoon, carrying out a series of airstrikes on the village of Durous a few hours later. The orders had prompted a mass exodus of residents from the city, which is home to a Unesco world heritage site.

Despite the danger from Israeli bombing, some residents remained. In Bednayel, a village on the outskirts of Baalbek, rescuers pulled a corpse out of the rubble of a collapsed building, levelled in an Israeli airstrike the night before. Eight people from the same family were killed in the strike.