JERUSALEM, Israel (AP) - Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert apologised yesterday for the dozens of civilians killed in an Israeli airstrike in the Lebanese town of Qana, but ruled out a ceasefire in Israel's 20-day battle with Hezbollah guerrillas in southern Lebanon.

Olmert's defiant speech appeared to quash growing international hopes of brokering a quick ceasefire to end the fighting, which has already killed at least 519 Lebanese and 51 Israelis.

Tebnine, Lebanon - A woman and her son from the southern town of Bint Jbail, Lebanon, site of a weeklong siege by Israeli forces, wait in the hospital of the village of Tebnine, yesterday. (Photo: AP)

Israel declared a 48-hour halt to most airstrikes in Lebanon on Sunday, hours after it bombed a building in the Lebanese town of Qana, killing scores of civilians, many of them children. Fighting between the two sides was less widespread yesterday as well, although there were clashes between Israeli soldiers and Hezbollah guerrillas south of the Lebanese town of Marjayoun.

Hezbollah fired three mortars at northern Israel, but did not launch a single rocket across the border for the first time since the fighting started, the army said.

However, the ebb in violence could prove to be brief. Israel's Security Cabinet met yesterday to discuss the army's request for a wider ground offensive, as thousands of reserve soldiers called up in recent days began training for that possibility.

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