Arab League chief Amr Moussa on Thursday blamed Israel for the deterioration of regional situation due to its military escalation in Lebanon and the Palestinian territories, Egypt's official MENA news agency reported.

Moussa said that such deterioration resulted from Israel's continued occupation of Arab territories, its lack of action toward solving the ongoing dispute in the region and the world's silence over events occurring in the Palestinian territories.

He urged the UN Security Council to step in and end the escalation, saying that the Security Council has the authority to preserve world peace and security.

Moussa said that he has held contacts since Wednesday with UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan and foreign ministers of Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Syria, Algeria, Libya and Yemen over the latest dangerous developments in the Middle East.

Arab foreign ministers will convene an emergency meeting in Cairo on Saturday to discuss steps over the ongoing events in both the Palestinian territories and Lebanon, Moussa said.

Israel pounded Lebanon following a cross-border attack by Lebanese Hezbollah militants on Wednesday, during which two Israeli soldiers were captured and eight others killed.

Some 47 Lebanese have been killed since Israel began a land, sea and air assault on Lebanon in response to the Wednesday attack, the al-Jazeera TV channel reported on Thursday.

While in the Gaza Strip, Israel stepped up its military operation to rescue an abducted soldier.

Source: Xinhua