"The resistance in Lebanon (Hezbollah) and the resistance in Gaza (Hamas) are united and will break all our borders ... to save Palestine," Hamdan said.

The crowd who were carrying Palestinian, Hezbollah and Lebanese flags were shouting "Israel and the US are the mothers of terrorism."

Hamdan warned that the "day of punishment is approaching."

"Israel is the enemy of Islam," the crowd chanted in return to Hamdan's speech.

Several hundred school children also took part in a Hezbollah-organized demonstration outside UN headquarters in the Lebanese capital on Monday to protest against Israel’s deadly offensive in Gaza.

Twenty schools participated in the rally, organizers said. The children presented a letter to a UN representative calling on the world body to take action.

The pupils held aloft pictures of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and of some of the children killed in Gaza during Israeli land and air strikes over the weekend. "Where are children’s rights?" asked one banner carried by the demonstrators, some of whom wore Palestinian-style chequered headscarves. "USA and Israel, the same face of terror," read another.

The demonstration came after an estimated 116 people, most of them militants but including women and children, died in Israeli army raids since last Wednesday. "I came here to encourage the kids in Gaza," said eight-year-old Rawan.

Tens of demonstrations also took place in Palestinian refugee camps throughout southern Lebanon on Monday.

Hundreds of Palestinian students took part in Hamas-organized demonstrations in the Rashidiyeh, Bourj al-Shemali and Al-Bass camps, near the southern port city of Tyre.

Demonstrators in the Bass camp set ablaze portraits of US President George W. Bush and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, while others burnt US and Israeli flags. "Ban Ki-moon, do you feel with Gaza’s children?" one banner read, referring to the UN chief. "Palestine’s children want protection and safety."

Hezbollah also denounced the deployment of US warships off Lebanon's coast, saying it would not be intimidated.

The US military said last Thursday that its navy was sending at least three warships, including an amphibious assault ship, to the eastern Mediterranean Sea.

"(US) warships will not help (Israel) and our strugglers will score another divine victory with God's will," Raad said.

Hezbollah is leading the Lebanese opposition in seeking to topple the US-backed government in Beirut. The group fought Israel in the 2006 war and is believed linked to Muslim militants who attacked US forces and diplomats killing about 270 in Lebanon in 1983-84 during the Lebanese civil war. -Agencies