ISRAELI troops clashed with Hezbollah guerrillas on the Lebanese side of the border yesterday, while warplanes flattened buildings and at least 50 people were killed as fighting entered its second week.

Diplomatic efforts to stop the week-long conflict between Israel and Lebanon gained momentum, but Israel said it was preparing to fight Hezbollah guerrillas for several more weeks and might send in ground forces.

Israeli forces are trying to curtail Hezbollah’s ability to fire rockets into Israel, the army’s deputy chief of staff said today, adding that a ground invasion into Lebanon had not been ruled out.

At the first field-level meeting to coordinate Israel’s summer pullout from the Gaza Strip, Israel warned the Palestinians it will not allow violence to hinder the operation and would attack militants if necessary.

Israeli troops backed by tanks retook all of Hebron today – blindfolding Palestinian suspects and herding them into army buses – after gunmen lured security forces into a dead-end alley and killed 12 with a barrage of bullets and grenades.