U.N. Voices 'Extreme Shock' Over Israeli Strike

Secretary General Kofi Annan, left, consults with Security Council President Jean-Marc de la Sabliere, back to camera, during an emergency meeting. Annan urged that an Israeli airstrike be condemned in "the strongest possible terms." (By Stephen Chernin -- Getty Images)

Gillerman appealed to the council not to play into the hands of Hezbollah and its Syrian and Iranian backers by pressing for an immediate cease-fire.

Lebanon's envoy, Nouhad Mahmoud, accused Israel of prosecuting its war with no concern for the loss of civilian life. "Israeli shells do not recognize the innocence of children or the sanctity of life," he said.

After the public debate in the council, the Security Council went behind closed doors to draw up a statement reacting to the Israeli strike.

Qatar introduced a draft statement condemning "the deliberate targeting" of civilians in Qana, calling for an "immediate and unconditional cease-fire" and an international investigation.

Bolton said it would be more appropriate to adopt a milder council statement that would "express our profound regrets and condolences to the families of those who have died, and things along that line."

Still, Annan pressed the United States and Security Council members to go further, saying the "authority and standing of the council are at stake" in Lebanon. "People have noticed its failure to act firmly and quickly during this crisis," he said.

Annan said both Israeli forces and Hezbollah, which continued its daily missile attacks on northern Israeli towns, "bear heavy responsibility" for the rising toll on civilian life and may be guilty of war crimes. He said there is "strong prima facie evidence that both have committed grave breaches of international humanitarian law."

The French resolution calls on Israeli forces and Hezbollah to retreat to positions outside a U.N.-established buffer zone along the Israeli-Lebanese border.

The Lebanese military, supported by about 2,000 U.N. peacekeepers, would send its troops to southern Lebanon.

The French resolution also calls for the demarcation of Lebanon's disputed international borders, including the Israeli-occupied Shebaa Farms, which Hezbollah has used to justify its attacks on Israeli forces and civilians.

Such a settlement would require Lebanon to fulfill earlier U.N. resolutions demanding that Hezbollah be disarmed and require the country to secure the release of two Israeli soldiers captured by the militia during a raid, which triggered the current fighting. Israel would be obliged to resolve a dispute over Lebanese prisoners detained in Israel.