Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Defense Minister Amir Peretz met Monday with defense officials to discuss expanding military operations in Lebanon, Haaretz daily reported.

During the security cabinet meeting, Peretz reportedly proposed to step up Israel Defense Forces (IDF) ground offensive up to the Litani River, 20 km inside southern Lebanon. But Haaretz said no announcement was made after the meeting.

A senior source in the IDF General Staff disclosed that Israeli army is planning an escalation of action in Lebanon after Lebanese Hezbollah's rocket attacks killed 15 Israelis in northern Israel on Sunday, the deadliest day of rocket attacks since the violence between the two sides began on July 12.

"We will continue hitting everything that moves in Hezbollah, but we will also hit strategic civilian infrastructure," Haaretz quoted the source as saying.

Early on Monday, Israeli warplanes bombarded the eastern Bekaa Valley, including the Hezbollah stronghold of Baalbek, Lebanese security sources said.

Israeli warplanes also carried out air raids on the village of Hula in southern Lebanon, trapping 45 people under the rubble, said media reports.

Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Siniora also denounced that more than 40 people were killed by an Israeli "deliberate massacre" in village Hula on Monday.

"One hour ago there was a horrible massacre in the village of Hula, a deliberate massacre, in which there were more than 40 martyrs," Siniora told the Arab ministers who met in Beirut on Monday over the escalating Israel-Hezbollah conflict.

Arab countries should support an immediate and unconditional ceasefire, he urged.

Source: Xinhua