By PAUL BURKHARDT
The Associated Press
Friday, July 28, 2006; 3:53 PM

UNITED NATIONS -- The U.N. humanitarian chief called Friday for a three-day truce between Israel and Hezbollah to evacuate trapped civilians and replenish supplies to areas cut off by the fighting.

Jan Egeland told reporters that thousands of children, elderly and disabled had been stranded after more than two weeks of war, while supplies of food and medicines are dwindling.

Egeland estimated that nearly 600 Lebanese civilians have been killed in the fighting, a third of them children. The number could be higher, but a proper count is not possible with communications breached in many remote areas and those with heavy fighting.

"There is something fundamentally wrong with a war where there are more dead children then armed men," he said. "It has to stop."

He said he hoped the three-day pause could be the start of a larger cessation of hostilities between the two sides.

Egeland said that, for now, he would ask the Israelis and Lebanese "for at least a 72-hour start of the cessation of hostilities, so that we can evacuate wounded, evacuate children, evacuate the elderly and the disabled from the crossfire in southern Lebanon."

He said that humanitarian workers were "stepping up" their work and, awaiting security guarantees and safe routes for convoys, will be able to provide 10,000 to 20,000 tons of food in Lebanon in the next month.

"But is only the cessation of hostilities that will end the suffering of the civilian populations," Egeland said.

Lebanese authorities say that at least 437 Lebanese have been killed, including 382 civilians confirmed dead by the Health Ministry. In addition, 20 Lebanese soldiers and at least 35 Hezbollah guerrillas have been killed.

The Lebanese health minister also says 58 others are known to be buried under the rubble of buildings and 150 more are missing and believed dead.

On the Israeli side, 33 soldiers have died in fighting, and Hezbollah rocket attacks on northern Israel have killed 19 civilians, the Israeli army said.

Egeland mentioned the possibility of setting up a communication network "into the villages and population centers where we've basically lost contact."