Israel 'regrets' civilian deaths in Qana, blames Hezbollah

JERUSALEM: Israel expressed regret over the civilian deaths in the Lebanese village of Qana Sunday but said it had warned residents to leave and laid the blame on Hezbollah for launching rockets from the area.

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Qana, where at least 51 people were killed, was a "safe haven" for militants attacking Israel and that the Jewish state was in "no rush" to reach a ceasefire against the Shiite Muslim militia in Lebanon.

"All the residents were warned and called upon to leave," Olmert's office quoted him as saying.

"There are hiding places for rockets inside the village and the village itself is a safe haven for those who launch rockets.... We have no policy to target innocent civilians," he said.

"From what I've been told... Qana and its surroundings are a center for the launching of rockets against Kiryat Shmona and Afula," Olmert said, referring to towns in Israel's north.

"Since the start of the incidents, hundreds of rockets have been fired from around the village, and dozens from inside it," he said.

"During 18 days hundreds and thousands of rockets aimed at killing innocent civilians in the (Israeli) north were fired." He said earlier that Israel was prepared to fight as long as it took until it had neutralised Hezbollah's capability to attack Israel.

"Israel is in no rush to reach a ceasefire before we get to a point where we could say that we have achieved the main objectives we had set forth," Olmert said at the start of the weekly cabinet meeting.

"And this requires a maturing of the diplomatic process and reaching a detailed agreement on the multinational force," he said.

Israel "regrets the death of innocent civilians. We do not wish to have civilians involved in the war between Israel and Hezbollah," Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev said.

Army spokesman Jacob Dalal rejected accusations that the Israeli military was responsible for the civilian deaths, which included many children.

"Hezbollah used the village of Qana as a base to launch rockets and it bears responsibility that this area is a combat zone.

"In Qana we attacked rocket-launching sites from where rockets have been fired toward Nahariya and toward the Galilee," Dalal said, referring to towns in northern Israel. He said the Israeli army had warned residents "for several days" that they should leave the area and "most of them have done so."