Beirut/Tel Aviv: An Israeli air strike on Sunday on a civilian building east of Tyre, killed over 50 persons and wounded many, witnesses and police said.
It was the highest casualty toll in any single incident since the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah guerrillas began on July 12.
In the aftermath of the incident, Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Seniora and House Speaker Nabih Berri said, "There will be no negotiations with Israel until there is an immediate and unconditional ceasefire".
But Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Israel was in no hurry to agree to a truce before it achieved its aims in the fighting.
"Israel is in no rush to reach a ceasefire before we get to that point where we could say that we reached the main objectives we had set forth," he said.
"Most of the killed are children and women," a witness at the scene of the bombing said.
"I can say this is a massacre. Most of the people here have fled to other areas to hide from the Israeli bombardment in southern Lebanon," a Red cross volunteer at the scene said.
The building was housing refugees in the village of Qana, east of Tyre.
An Israeli army spokesman said the Hezbollah guerrilla group had launched "numerous attacks" from the area, but would not say why that specific building had been targeted.
Israeli ground troops, meanwhile, extended their operations in southern Lebanon.
An army spokeswoman said two soldiers had so far been injured in the fighting, and three Hezbollah fighters had been hit.
Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice met Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Saturday and discussed conditions for the deployment of an international peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon.
Israel has said it aims to have the Lebanese army deployed in the south, bolstered by an international force, significantly weakening Hezbollah's military ability, and securing the release of two Israeli soldiers abducted by Hezbollah on June 12 during a cross-border raid.
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