In an emotional meeting with Western news agencies, Haddad pleaded with reporters to spread word of Lebanon's suffering, and he harshly criticized the United States for failing to push for an immediate cease-fire.
"My message to the American people is: Stop this barbaric attack," the finance minister said. "If you think it's promoting the goals of the U.S. and the U.S. government, I think you're making a very big mistake."
In Israel, more than 130 rockets had fallen in the north by nightfall. The near-constant boom of Israeli artillery could be heard in the frontier towns, where streets were deserted.
"It's nerve-racking," said Nati Dahan, a convenience store clerk in the northern Israeli town of Rosh Pina, which at this time of year would normally be crowded with tourists. "It's completely quiet."
Despite rising international criticism of the civilian death toll in Lebanon and the lopsidedness of the casualty counts on the two sides of the border, there was a broad consensus across the Israeli political spectrum that the offensive must go on until Hezbollah is crippled militarily.
"We must not do half of a job, and not stop now and bring in a multinational force that will only fall apart over time, but eliminate these rocket caches and free Israel from their threat," said former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of the conservative Likud Party.
Shimon Peres, Israel's dovish elder statesman, told Israel Radio: "This is a just war."
Defense Minister Amir Peretz pledged that attacks against Hezbollah would go on "without letup and without a time limit."
Maj. Gen. Udi Adam, head of the army's northern command, also said Israeli warplanes would continue to mount wide-ranging strikes.
"We have not exhausted anything yet," he said on Israel Radio. "There remain many targets."
The Israeli military said Wednesday's air raids included a strike on the launcher of a long-range Zelzal missile, as well as financial establishments allegedly tied to Hezbollah, in Beirut and Nabatiyeh.
Even amid the onslaught, however, Israeli officials have increasingly been using language suggesting they anticipate a mediated solution.
"The harder we hit Hezbollah now, the better the basis for future negotiations will be," said Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni.
While fighting raged on in Lebanon, violence spilled over into the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
In the West Bank city of Nablus, three Palestinian gunmen were killed in the midst of what Israel described as an arrest raid by army troops.
Israel said the three were members of a cell activated by Hezbollah that had been planning attacks.
Earlier, six Palestinians were killed and five Israeli soldiers injured in clashes in the central Gaza Strip. Three other Palestinians were killed in separate incidents in Gaza.
Stack reported from Beirut and King from Jerusalem. Times staff writers Kim Murphy in Damascus, Syria; Ken Ellingwood in Rosh Pina; Tracy Wilkinson in Rome; Achrene Sicakyuz in Paris; Maggie Farley in New York; and Heather Gehlert in Washington contributed to this report.
