JERUSALEM — Israel agreed to halt bombing for 48 hours and allow besieged civilians safe passage out of southern Lebanon, U.S. officials said Sunday, a concession granted under intense pressure after one of its airstrikes hit a house full of women and children, killing as many as 56 people.
The strike, the deadliest in Israel's 19-day offensive, derailed U.S. diplomatic efforts in the region, at least for now, forcing Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to cancel a trip to Beirut, and galvanized demands for an immediate end to the fighting.
Until late Sunday, both Israel and the U.S. had turned aside calls for a truce, saying Hezbollah militants, who have been firing hundreds of rockets at towns in northern Israel, would merely use it to regroup. As recently as Saturday, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert had told Rice that his country needed another 10 to 14 days to prosecute its offensive, Israeli officials said Sunday.
But the bombing in the Lebanese town of Qana ignited an outcry that neither Washington nor Israel could ignore.
"There is no place on this sad morning for any discussion except for an immediate cease-fire and an international investigation into Israeli massacres," Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora said at a news conference in Beirut shortly before his government announced that Rice would not be coming.
Siniora, who has been at odds with Hezbollah in the past, also said he "thanked" the Islamic militant group for its "sacrifices."
This morning, Rice said she was leaving Israel with an "emerging consensus on what is necessary for both an urgent cease-fire and a lasting settlement. I am convinced we can achieve both this week."
She urged world leaders to act on a peace proposal, which she said would include an international force that would provide humanitarian aid, guard borders and block illegal arms shipments, but leave disarming Hezbollah to the Lebanese army.
The Israeli strike in Qana demolished a three-story house, sending tons of concrete crashing onto Lebanese families who had taken refuge in the basement. More than half were children, sleeping when what appears to have been a precision-guided bomb hit.
Israel expressed "deep sorrow" for what it called a tragic mistake, and said Hezbollah was using the town to fire rockets into northern Israel.
Officials said they were unaware of the large number of civilians in the building and noted that civilians had been ordered out of Qana.
