Israel rejected Saturday afternoon a request by the United Nations for a 72-hour ceasefire for humanitarian considerations, officials in Jerusalem said.
The United Nations argued that a ceasefire is necessary to allow humanitarian organizations to evacuate the elderly, children and injured people from south Lebanon to more secure locations.
"There is no need for a 72-hour temporary ceasefire because Israel has opened a humanitarian corridor to-and-from Lebanon," said Israeli government spokesman Avi Pazner.
Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mark Regev said: "Israel is committed and is acting on the ground to create humanitarian corridors. The solutions that Israel is proposing are effective and helpful for the problems that arose."
Regev was referring to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's promise to US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice that Israel will allow humanitarian organizations to ship food and medicine to areas affected by the fighting.
Top United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator Jan Egeland proposed a 72-hour humanitarian ceasefire to the UN Security Council on Friday in an effort to rescue children and infirm trapped by the ongoing violence between the Hizbullah and the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) in southern Lebanon.
"There is something fundamentally wrong with the war where there are more dead children than armed men," Egeland told reporters after the closed-door briefing. "It has to stop."
French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy on Saturday criticized Israel's rejection of the UN truce proposal.
"I actively regret" the refusal, Douste-Blazy told a news conference in Paris. He said he would immediately renew France's appeal for such a temporary truce through the United Nations.
Rice returning to Israel
Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will arrive in Jerusalem of Saturday for a second round of talks with prime minister Olmert.
Rice will discuss the deployment of international forces in south Lebanon with Olmert, Defense Minister Amir Peretz and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni.
Israeli officials expressed satisfaction with a call by President George W. Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair for a UN resolution mandating an international force in south Lebanon to disarm Hizbullah.
European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana said Friday he is confidant the United Nations Security Council will adopt a resolution that will lay the ground works for the deployment of an international force in south Lebanon.
"I haven't spoken with all the members of the Security Council but I spoke with a good number of permanent members…which gave me the feeling that the position is very open in the heart of the Security Council regarding the adoption of a resolution in this direction," Solana said.
With news agencies