Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Tuesday reiterated his rejection to an immediate ceasefire in its Lebanon offensive.

Israel will only agree to a ceasefire when "conditions on the ground will be different from those that led to the outbreak of the war", he vowed.

The premier made the remarks a graduation ceremony at the National Security College at the Glilot military base just north of Tel Aviv.

He told the ceremony that Israel's three-week offensive in Lebanon has changed "the face of the Middle East", adding "if the military operation would end today, we could even say today with certainty that the face of the Middle East has changed."

Earlier, Israeli Justice Minister Haim Ramon told Channel 10 television that about 300 of an estimated 2,000 Hezbollah fighters have been killed in three weeks of fighting in Lebanon.

"The goal is to hit at the Hezbollah fighters and their weapons arsenal. And to today we are doing not a bad job," he added.

Hezbollah has denied suffering serious new casualties, saying 43 fighters had died in the conflict.

Olmert, meanwhile, said that he saw the beginning of a process that would lead to a ceasefire in Lebanon as Hizbollah guerrillas could never threaten the Jewish state again.

"We are at the beginning of a political process that in the end will bring a ceasefire under entirely different conditions than before," he said.

Earlier on Tuesday, the Israeli security cabinet gave a go- ahead to the expansion of ground operations in southern Lebanon.

The Israeli army on Tuesday also warned residents north of Lebanon's Litani river, up to 30 kilometers (19 miles) from Israel 's border, to leave the area, while Israel decided to resume full offensives against Hezbollah early Wednesday.

"There are a small number of places north of the Litani river where we know Hezbollah operates," said an army spokeswoman, adding warning leaflets were distributed.

Violence between Israel and Lebanese Hezbollah erupted on July 12 following the abduction of two Israeli soldiers by the Shiite group in a cross-border attack.

More than 600 Lebanese and some 51 Israelis have been killed during the 21-day-long conflict between the two sides.

Source: Xinhua