QANA, Lebanon - Thousands of civilians trapped for nearly three weeks in south Lebanon's war zone streamed north Monday by truck, car and on foot, seizing the chance to flee during a brief halt in Israeli airstrikes. Israel's prime minister said there would be no cease-fire in the fight against Hezbollah.
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert had agreed to the 48-hour pause beginning at 2 a.m. Monday while the military concluded its inquiry into the attack on the south Lebanese village of Qana, Israel's deadliest strike since the conflict erupted June 12.
But Israel left open the option of striking targets to stop imminent attacks or if the military completed its inquiry. After Hezbollah guerrillas hit an Israeli tank near the village of Taibeh with an anti-tank missile, Israel said, the army carried out the airstrikes to protect ground troops.
In a second airstrike around the port city of Tyre, Israel accidentally killed a Lebanese soldier when it hit a car it believed was carrying a senior Hezbollah official. Instead, the car carried a Lebanese army officer and soldiers. "They were, of course, not the targets, and we regret the incident," the Israeli army said.
Another airstrike hit the main Lebanese-Syrian border crossing for the third time in as many days, the army and witnesses said. Israel said the strike targeted a truck importing weapons from Syria. It said the strike was in Lebanese territory.
But Lebanese police officials said two missiles struck near a vehicle carrying relief supplies near the customs post at Masnaa, wounding four people and a customs officer.
"We are determined to succeed in this struggle," Olmert said. "We will not give up on our goal to live a life free of terror."
The brief pause in airstrikes meant the first relative relief for thousands of Lebanese hiding in their homes, in schools or hospitals in the dozens of villages that dot the mountainous south. Huge numbers had fled already, and those left were mostly elderly, sick or too afraid of Israeli bombardment to risk the drive.
Early Monday, few southerners had ventured out, likely questioning whether news of the cease-fire was true. By early afternoon, roads from villages into the port city of Tyre, then north from Tyre along the coast, were packed. With many of the main roads shattered, cars used dirt side roads, with white flags fluttering out windows or white sheets covering the roofs.
Mehdi al-Halim, 73, stumbled as he tried to walk out of the ruins of the border town of Bint Jbail, scene of the war's bloodiest ground fight.
"We had no food, no water. Everyday we had only one candy each, one candy that is all," he said, grabbing his loose trousers, held together with a pin, to show the weight he had lost. "How much you eat in one day is how much we have eaten in 20 days."
Lebanese Red Cross teams escorted by U.N. observers went to the village of Srifa to dig out more than 50 bodies believed still buried under rubble since Israeli strikes wiped out a neighborhood July 19. The bodies have begun decomposing, the Red Cross said.
Some U.N. and Red Cross aid convoys were forced to turn back from destinations in Lebanon because of continued fighting, though other trucks pressed on in an attempt to reach Qana, U.N. officials said.
Olmert repeated Israel's regret for the civilian deaths.
"I am sorry from bottom of heart for all deaths of children or women in Qana," he said. "We did not search them out ... they were not our enemies and we did not look for them."
Associated Press correspondents Kathy Gannon in Bint Jbail, Lee Keath in Beirut, and Thomas Wagner in Jerusalem contributed to this report.
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