UN asks for 3-day truce for children, elderly to flee Lebanon

UNITED NATIONS: With almost 20 per cent people in Lebanon displaced, the UN has appealed for three days truce to allow children, the wounded and the elderly to escape and that food, medicines and other essential supplies reach the needy.

"We need at least 72 hours of tranquilities for the sake of the children of Lebanon and northern Israel who, I believe, we all agree are innocent victims of this escalating conflict," Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Jan Egeland told 15-member council in his briefing on Friday.

Egeland has just returned to UN Headquarters in New York from a six-day visit to Lebanon, north Israel and Gaza Strip.

"Civilians must be protected at any cost. If there are many more dead children in a conflict than armed men, there is something fundamentally wrong, not only with how the armed men behave and where they hide, but also with the way the response is being conducted," he said.

Acknowledging that "aid in itself is not the solution," he repeated Secretary-General Kofi Annan's call for an immediate cessation of hostilities, followed by a ceasefire agreement, deployment of a security force and a political settlement.

Egeland quoted Health Ministry which put the civilian death toll as over 600 which including a majority of women and children dead.