Israel hit by rockets from Lebanon

A rocket salvo from Lebanon slightly wounded two people in northern Israel yesterday and briefly raised fears that Hizbollah fighters were opening a second front to relieve pressure on Gaza. But an Israeli Cabinet minister blamed Palestinian groups in Lebanon.

In northern Israel, police said one of three rockets fired from Lebanon tore a hole in the roof of an old people's home in the town of Nahariya, where two people were hurt. The attack initially aroused fears that Hezbollah was behind it.

But a senior Israeli Cabinet minister pointed the finger at Palestinian groups in Lebanon. "These are isolated incidents," Rafi Eitan said on Israel's Channel 2. "We expected this."

The army, which fought a 34-day war with Shi'ite Hizbollah guerrillas in 2006, responded only with a few artillery rounds. There were no reports of casualties in Lebanon.

The commander of UN peacekeepers in Lebanon urged "maximum restraint" and the Beirut government criticised the perpetrators for violating the UN resolution that halted the 2006 war.

US backing for an Egyptian truce proposal has increased pressure on Israel to end its Gaza war as casualties mount.

The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza put the Palestinian death toll at 707 since the Israeli assault began on December 27. It said at least 3,000 people had been wounded.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said she agreed with French President Nicolas Sarkozy on conditions for a ceasefire, but neither Israel nor Hamas has agreed on the details.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said the government's goal that "quiet will reign supreme" in southern Israel had not been achieved. A decision on further military action "is still ahead of us", his office quoted him as saying in the south. Eleven Israelis have died in the past 13 days, eight of them soldiers, including four killed by "friendly" fire.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said its officials and Palestinian ambulance workers had found four starving children huddled with at least 12 corpses in Gaza in a house 80 metres from an Israeli military position.

Among the dead in the house, found lying on mattresses, were the children's mothers, the ICRC said.