Hezbollah calls for cease-fire

JERUSALEM -- A massive wave of guerrilla rockets pounded northern Israel in a matter of minutes Thursday, killing eight people hours before Hezbollah's leader offered to stop the attacks if Israel ends its airstrikes. With four soldiers killed in Lebanon, it was the deadliest day for Israel in its two-front war.

Israel unleashed airstrikes on the southern Beirut suburb of Dahieh late Thursday Central time, saying its targets were Hezbollah facilities and an office of Hamas, the militant group that runs the Palestinian government.

In the second front of its offensive against Islamic militants, Israel sent dozens of tanks into the Gaza Strip as aircraft fired at clusters of militants. The heavy clashes killed eight Palestinians.

In a televised speech Thursday night, Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah offered for the first time to stop firing rockets into Israel if it stops its airstrikes.

"Any time you decide to stop your campaign against our cities, villages, civilians and infrastructure, we will not fire rockets on any Israeli settlement or city," he said.

Speaking directly to Israelis, Nasrallah said, "The only choice before you is to stop your aggression and turn to negotiations to end this folly."

Israeli officials shrugged off the offer, saying Hezbollah was on the defensive and was looking for a breather.

Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Saniora said more than 900 people had been killed and 3,000 wounded, but he did not say whether the new figure -- up from 520 confirmed dead -- included people missing.

More than 1 million people, a quarter of Lebanon's population, have been displaced, he said, adding that the fighting "is taking an enormous toll on human life and infrastructure, and has totally ravaged our country and shattered our economy."

At the United Nations, France circulated a revised resolution calling for an immediate cessation of Israeli-Hezbollah hostilities.

It also spells out conditions for a lasting solution to the crisis, including: deploying peacekeepers; creating a buffer zone in south Lebanon free of Hezbollah militants and Israeli troops; the release of two Israeli soldiers abducted by Hezbollah; and the "settlement of the issue of the Lebanese prisoners detained in Israel."

The fighting in Gaza, which began June 25 after Hamas-linked militants captured an Israeli soldier in a cross-border raid, has killed a total of 175 Palestinians, the U.N. reported Thursday.

The offensive in Lebanon began after another cross-border raid by militants, in this case Hezbollah guerrillas, captured two Israeli soldiers. More than three weeks into the fighting, six Israeli brigades -- or roughly 10,000 troops -- were locked in battle with hundreds of Hezbollah guerrillas in south Lebanon.

Since the fighting started, 68 Israelis have been killed, 41 soldiers and 27 civilians. More than 300,000 Israelis have fled their homes in the north, Israeli officials said.

Meanwhile, in a report on the devastating Israeli attack Sunday on the village of Qana, New York-based Human Rights Watch said its re-examination of the incident showed 28 people had died, half the number initially reported by Lebanese organizations. Thirteen were still missing.