BEIRUT (AFP) -- Prime Minister Fuad Siniora made a tearful plea for an end to the four-week conflict in Lebanon as 69 people were killed in a new blitz of air raids and Israel warned of no limit to its offensive.

Israel's deadly attack on the Lebanese village of Qana could be part of "a pattern of violations of international law" in the Israel-Hezbollah war, the UN chief says in a report.

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan made a new appeal to Israel and Hezbollah "to respect their obligations under international humanitarian law," in a preliminary report on the July 30 attack which left at least 28 civilians dead including 16 children.

"The attack on Qana should be seen in the broader context of what could be, based on preliminary information available to the United Nations, including eyewitness accounts, a pattern of violations of international law, including international humanitarian law and international human rights law, committed during the course of the current hostilities," Annan said.

Israel said in a statement to the United Nations that Qana was a base for Hezbollah "terrorists" and that it had given advance warning to residents of its intention to attack.

Lebanon, in its declaration, called the attack "a war crime" and said that other bodies may still be under the rubble.

According to the Lebanese government's account, in the early hours of July 30 a house collapsed under the impact of one direct hit by a missile fired by an Israeli jet and another that landed nearby.

The UN Security Council expressed "extreme shock and distress" at the attack, which was first reported to have killed more than 50 civilians, and ordered Anan to produce a report within seven days.

Israel has sent thousands of ground forces into south Lebanon in an attempt to clear the area, a Hezbollah stronghold, of fighters from the Shiite militant group and prevent it from launching rockets across the border.

There was no end to the offensive in sight, as Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert vowed "no limits" had been imposed on the army.

"The majority of the country supports the operation and is ready to support the price," Olmert's office quoted him as saying during a visit to military headquarters in the north.

"I give you all the means that you need and all of my support. We will not stop," he said.

In a sign of a possible escalation, Israel's army warned Lebanese south of the Litani River not to go outdoors after 10:00 pm (1900 GMT).

Israel's border with Lebanon runs eastwards from the Mediterranean coast about 30 kilometers (19 miles) south of the Litani, but moves much closer to the river as it turns north about 30 kilometers inland.

According to official tolls, more than 1,000 Lebanese have been killed and around 3,500 wounded in the offensive, which has also forced more than 915,000 from their homes and left the economy in ruins since its launch on July 12.

Sixty-one Israeli soldiers have also been killed while 36 civilians have died in a barrage of Hezbollah rocket fire from across the border.

The Israeli military launched fresh strikes Monday evening on Beirut's southern suburbs, a Hezbollah hub, setting off explosions which echoed across the capital.

Earlier Monday, Israeli warplanes bombed houses, bridges and roads in southern and eastern Lebanon. The Israeli army also said it had downed a Hezbollah drone.

The new wave of deadly raids came as Washington urged the quick passage of a UN resolution calling for a full halt to the fighting, although there was little sign of international agreement on a peace plan.

The UN Security Council scheduled a public debate for Tuesday on the conflict, which was expected to draw envoys from several Arab countries at the ministerial level. U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was also expected to be at the UN headquarters. Siniora said he refused to let Lebanon be a "punch bag" for Israel and made an emotional appeal for an end to the killings, as Arab foreign ministers gathered in Beirut threw their support behind his plan for a ceasefire. Siniora called for help in seeking "an immediate and unconditional ceasefire."

"We do not want the Lebanese state and the Lebanese people to remain the punch bag of Israel or anyone else."

Wiping away tears, he told them: "Your standing with us is a right and a duty. Arab security is interlinked."

The Security Council had been expected to adopt a resolution jointly drafted by France and the United States by Tuesday, but diplomats said they could no longer say when a vote would take place after Lebanon demanded revisions.

Siniora said the draft text fails to insist on an immediate withdrawal of Israeli forces from Lebanon, which had pulled out of the country in 2000 after a bloody 22-year occupation.

The draft, which co-author France said was still a work in progress and should be amended by Lebanon, calls for a "full cessation of hostilities" and the deployment of an international force in a buffer zone in south Lebanon.

U.S. President George W. Bush said the UN resolution was needed "as quickly as possible," while Rice said it would "take a little time" to ease Israeli and Lebanese concerns.

Siniora's own plan calls for an Israeli withdrawal, the expansion of the UN peacekeeping force sent to the area after a previous invasion in 1978, the deployment of the Lebanese army to the border and the disarming of Hezbollah.

The Lebanese government, including two Hezbollah cabinet members, approved a plan to deploy 15,000 troops to the border once Israel left and called up reserve troops in preparation.

Siniora, who wants an immediate halt to the conflict, accused the Israeli air force of "a deliberate massacre" in the southern village of Hula, saying "more than 40 martyrs" had died there Monday.