JERUSALEM - Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's cabinet early Tuesday approved the expansion of the army's ground operation in south

Lebanon, hours after the premier vowed there would be no early ceasefire in the offensive against Hezbollah.

"The cabinet gave the green light for expanding the ground operation in Lebanon," a government official told AFP.

Several hours before the four-hour long cabinet meeting, Olmert said the army would press on with the operation despite a backdrop of mounting calls for a halt the conflict that has killed hundreds of people in Lebanon.

"The fighting is continuing," Olmert told a meeting of mayors in Tel Aviv. "There is no ceasefire and there will be no ceasefire in coming days."

He also warned that Israel's war on Hezbollah, launched on July 12 after Shiite Muslim guerrillas seized two soldiers in a deadly border raid, would end only when the militant Shiite group ceased being a threat.

"We will end it when the threat over our heads is removed, when our kidnapped soldiers return to their homes and when we can live in security," Olmert said.

His comments came after US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice left the region saying she was convinced an "urgent ceasefire and a lasting settlement" could be achieved at the UN Security Council this week.

Olmert told his British counterpart Tony Blair on Monday that a ceasefire could be reached once a multinational force is deployed along Lebanon's border.

"Israel is interested that an effective multinational force comes to Lebanon in order for it to deploy along the blue line (Lebanon's border with Israel), as well as at the border crossings between Syria and Lebanon," Olmert's office quoted him as telling Blair in a telephone call.

"The prime minister said that immediately following the deployment of the force a ceasefire could be reached," the statement from Olmert's office said.

Defense Minister Amir Peretz had said earlier that an immediate truce would only spur on the militant group that has repeatedly lobbed rockets at the Jewish state despite the three-week blitz across Lebanon.

Israel had announced a halt to air strikes for 48 hours amid global outrage over the killing of at least 52 people, most of them children, in the Lebanese village of Qana on Sunday.

However, a number of raids took place in eastern and southern Lebanon, and Israel also sent bulldozers across the border to start the creation of a "security zone."

"Israel will expand its operations against Hezbollah," Peretz told a stormy extraordinary session of parliament that was repeatedly interrupted by angry heckles from Israeli Arab lawmakers.

Israel has struggled to accomplish its goal of neutralizing the Shiite Muslim militia despite its superior firepower and rocket attacks have continued unabated.

Within hours of Peretz's speech, the military said it had carried out an air strike in support of ground troops in the southeastern Lebanese border village of Taibe.

An army spokesman said the strike had targeted "uninhabited" areas and did not violate the promised 48-hour halt to air raids, "as we never said we would suspend all strikes completely. We said that we could continue to protect our civilians and our soldiers."

Israeli forces also pressed on with the ground offensive, operating in the villages of Ayta and Ayta el-Shab. The two villages are close to the hotspot town of Bint Jbeil, which saw deadly fighting between Israeli and Hezbollah forces last week.

Israeli warplanes also raided Lebanon's Masnaa border crossing with Syria for the third time in as many days, wounding four customs employees and a civilian.

One Lebanese soldier was also killed and three wounded by Israeli naval fire north of the port city of Tyre.

Armoured bulldozers were ploughing north of the border, flattening positions built by Hezbollah since Israel withdrew from southern Lebanon in 2000, an Israeli official said. By Wednesday, the zone was expected to be a mile wide.

"If there is an immediate ceasefire, the extremists will immediately rear their heads. A ceasefire will return the extremists to the region," said Peretz, also accusing arch-enemy Iran of encouraging Hezbollah.

"This war will change the face of the region," Peretz said. "We are battling Hezbollah, which is nothing but the vanguard of the extremist regime in Tehran that finances and encourages its murderous activities."

Iran has denied Israeli charges that it has armed and trained Hezbollah fighters, saying that it only provides the group with moral support.

Despite having the Middle East's most powerful army, Israel has faced a formidable enemy in Hezbollah, which has used classic guerrilla tactics with great success during the 20-day offensive in Lebanon.

Amid Israel's massive strikes by air, land and sea, Hezbollah has rained rockets into the Jewish state, killing 18 civilians.

A record 156 rockets landed across the north of the country on Sunday, the day of the deadly Qana strike, and nearly 2,000 have landed since the conflict began.

Only two rockets were reported to have been fired Monday.

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