Fighting in Lebanon and Israel Claims More Lives

ALEX THOMSON, ITV News Correspondent:

Beirut, 27 days of this now, so Lebanon is tonight calling up its army reserves for a possible military deployment to the south to counter the Israeli bombardment. A country stricken, a prime minister distraught.

translator):

FUAD SINIORA, Prime Minister of Lebanon (through Our Arabism in Lebanon is unconditional.

ALEX THOMSON:

South Lebanon's main city, Tyre, now isolated, cut off from the world by Israeli air strikes, artillery and naval bombardment which is intensifying all the time. The ancient souk here all but deserted, a city that's basically fled in the face of 27 days of warfare, over a thousand now killed. And from the few that remain here, defiance and anger.

LEBANESE INHABITANT (through translator):

I live here because I'm a Palestinian. I'm not afraid of anything. I'm not afraid of death, not from the English, French, Germans or Americans. If I die, I die.

ALEX THOMSON:

And it has come to this here, aid organizations, like Medecins Sans Frontieres, forced to bring in aid by human chain over blown up bridges at great personal risk from Israeli air strikes. Even as their convoy moved, Israel bombed in the vicinity.

United Nations' aid desperately needed by civilians here, also going nowhere, thwarted by yet another blown-up bridge. The Red Cross unable even to move outside Tyre.

Cross:

ROLAND HUGUENIN-BENJAMIN, International Committee of the Red The symbol or the emblem of the Red Cross should be respected universally. Of course, when there is intense military action going on between two parts, we do make sure that we should be notified, that those parties should be aware of the fact that we are traveling on one particular road on one particular day.

ALEX THOMSON:

Outside the city hospital, this lorry stood for days containing 35 rotting corpses of women and children massacred at Qana. There are 80 more bodies in the hospital morgue from other attacks.