No need for 72-hour pause in Lebanon fighting: Israel

JERUSALEM, July 29 (Reuters) Israel today rejected U N calls for a 72-hour pause in fighting to enable relief workers to evacuate elderly, young and wounded people from south Lebanon and to bring in emergency aid.

''There is no need for a 72-hour temporary ceasefire because Israel has opened a humanitarian corridor to-and-from Lebanon,'' said Israeli government spokesman Avi Pazner.

U N Emergency Relief Coordinator Jan Egeland asked for the 72-hour cessation of hostilities to facilitate aid efforts yesterday.

Pazner said Israel was not blocking aid from reaching south Lebanon.

''The problem is completely different,'' he said. ''It is Hizbollah, which is deliberately preventing the transfer of medical aid and food to the population of southern Lebanon in order to create a humanitarian crisis, which they want to blame Israel for.'' Reuters LL VV1500