All-out war, then Monday cease-fire?

JERUSALEM — By air and by land, thousands of Israeli troops plunged deep inside southern Lebanon on Saturday and charged toward the Litani River battling Hezbollah fighters, even as the United Nations brokered a Monday morning cease-fire.

The situation suggested a sticking point for how to impose the truce after a month of escalating warfare:

Even as the warring parties seemed poised to accept a foreign force and the Lebanese Army to separate them, Israel said it would hold conquered ground until the international force relieved its soldiers.

Hezbollah's leader replied that he would accept the truce, too. But "as long as there are Israeli soldiers on our soil we will continue to fight them," said Sheik Hassan Nasrallah.

And combat was fierce as Israeli troops thrust into new battleground all the way to the Litani River, 18 miles north of the border. It appeared to be one last push to confront and weaken the Shiite fighters firing rockets into northern Israel, as well as bid to draw the line where the international forces would take over.

Nineteen Israeli soldiers were killed, the highest one-day toll for Israel since the war against Hezbollah erupted.

The deaths, which occurred in several battles throughout the day, brought to more than 100 the number of Israeli troops killed.

Israel said it killed about 40 Hezbollah fighters in a daylong campaign of airstrikes and ground battles.

For the massive push, Israel tripled its troop strength inside Lebanon, Israel's Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Dan Halutz said Saturday, meaning an estimated 30,000 Israeli fighters were on Lebanese soil. That included hundreds of commandos reportedly ferried north toward the Litani in combat helicopters, one of which was shot down over south Lebanon; the five-member crew was listed as missing and feared dead.

Israeli helicopters also evacuated 70 wounded troops to hospitals inside Israel.

Halutz said Israel's military would keep fighting until it got an order from Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to do otherwise.

The first opportunity for that order comes today, when Israel's regular weekly Cabinet meeting is expected to accept the United Nations plan — first for a cease-fire, then for the foreign force deployment.

In Beirut, the Lebanese government of Prime Minister Fuad Saniora endorsed the U.N. resolution on Saturday. It proposes to send 15,000 international forces to join with Lebanon Army troops as a buffer to keep Israeli and Hezbollah forces apart. Ultimately, they're to demilitarize the zone of southern Lebanon where the armed wing of the parliamentary Party of God has functioned as an independent militia since Israel ceded the south in May 2000.

In New York, U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan announced Saturday night that both Saniora and Olmert agreed in principle to a 8 a.m. Monday cease-fire — 10 tonight Pacific time.

President Bush had an eight-minute phone call Saturday with Saniora to discuss the U.N. resolution and efforts to end hostilities. The White House issued a statement declaring the administration was determined to vanquish the hold of Hezbollah — and that of its Syrian and Iranian benefactors — on the south.

The Lebanese Cabinet condemned Israel's military push Saturday, saying it presented a "flagrant challenge" to the international community after the U.N. resolution was issued.

In Israel, government spokesman Mark Regev said that Olmert's Cabinet was expected to approve the U.N. Security Council plan, including Annan's "H-Hour" — the hour that both sides stop fighting.

Regardless, Israel would not leave Lebanon, Regev said, until international forces took up Israeli positions.

A U.N. force acts as observers in south Lebanon, recording violations of earlier truces and reporting them back to headquarters. Now, the U.N. must assemble a more robust force, which Israel has asked the Bush administration to vet and make sure includes NATO members.

In New York, U.N. envoy Alvaro de Soto said it could take seven to 10 days to organize the force, meaning in the best-case scenario a week or more of close-range clashes. Both sides would agree to stop firing rockets, and Israel would stop its airstrikes.

"If there is an agreement on the cessation of hostilities between the Lebanese government and the enemy, we will observe it without delay," Nasrallah said Saturday, as the battle raged. But, he predicted "the war will continue for another few days. That's why we are continuing to fight today."

Though there was a marked decrease, Hezbollah lobbed an estimated 68 Katyusha rockets into small towns and farms that stud the north, setting off sirens. The Israeli military continued to fire its 155 mm Howitzer rounds and other rockets into the south, supporting the expanding force of Israeli fighters.

Nineteen Lebanese civilians died from Israeli airstrikes, while Hezollah rockets wounded eight people in northern Israel. The 32-day struggle has claimed nearly 900 lives — including at least 763 in Lebanon and 130 in Israel. Israel claims to have killed upward of 550 Hezbollah fighters.

In south Lebanon on Saturday, Tyre was completely isolated after overnight Israeli airstrikes destroyed the last makeshift bridge over the Litani — presumably a key Hezbollah resupply route.

City residents described a ghost town, with 90 percent of Tyre's population having fled Israeli airstrikes and commando raids in four weeks of fighting triggered by Hezbollah's bold July 12 incursion into Israel and capture of two Israeli soldiers.

No vehicles moved, the Israel Defense Forces having warned that any moving traffic would be hit. The Lebanese Red Cross in Tyre was immobilized and unable to get to Kasmiyeh, a town across the Litani River where people had been killed and injured in Israeli airstrikes Saturday morning, said Qassim Shaalan with the Lebanese Red Cross in Tyre. After losing one medic traveling with a convoy leaving Marjayoun that was hit by Israeli airstrikes, medics are worried about being killed themselves.

Information from The Associated Press is included in this report.