EIGHT Israeli civilians and three soldiers were killed yesterday as Hezbollah exacted its heaviest toll on the Jewish state since the conflict began 24 days ago.

Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, the Hezbollah leader, went on television last night to hail his fighters’ success. He said that they were inflicting “maximum casualties” on Israeli troops and called their resistance a “miracle”, adding that they were “fighting until the last breath and last bullet”.

He offered to stop firing rockets at Israel if it stopped attacking Lebanon, but pledged to hit Tel Aviv if Israel attacked central Beirut. Mark Regev, the Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman, said last night that Nasrallah wanted breathing space “to rearm, regroup and once again be in a position of strength”.

Hezbollah fired more than 230 Katyusha rockets at Israel yesterday, including about 130 in a single hour, despite claims by Ehud Olmert, the Israeli Prime Minister, that his bombing campaign had severely weakened the Shia guerrillas.

Israel also stepped up its offensive. Some 10,000 troops fought their way into southern Lebanon, carving out a “security zone” of 20 villages up to four miles from the border that it said would hold until an international force took over.

Amir Peretz, the Defence Minister, ordered troops to prepare to push right up to the Litani river, about 15 miles (24km) north of the border, to stop Hezbollah’s rockets.

Israeli warplanes also bombed dozens of targets, including a suspected Hezbollah stronghold in southern Beirut, the eastern Bekaa Valley, roads near the Syrian border and around the southern town of Nabatiyeh. Israel dropped leaflets on Shia areas of Beirut warning residents to leave and numerous air attacks on the city’s southern suburbs early today killed three people.

Fouad Siniora, the Lebanese Prime Minister, said that 900 of its citizens had been killed and 3,000 wounded, with a third of the casualties children under 12.

French and American diplomats in New York inched towards agreement on a resolution calling for an end to the fighting as the first step to a settlement. Diplomats said that foreign ministers were tentatively planning to travel to New York on Monday or Tuesday to vote on a resolution calling for an immediate end to hostilities and spelling out the conditions for a permanent ceasefire, including the creation of a militia-free buffer zone and an international force.

King Abdullah of Jordan said that the continued fighting had weakened moderates across the Middle East. “The Arab people see Hezbollah as a hero because it’s fighting Israel’s aggression,” he said. “This is a fact that the US and Israel must realise. As long as there’s aggression there’s resistance, and there’s popular support for this resistance.”

President Ahmadinejad of Iran told an emergency meeting of Muslim leaders in Malaysia that the solution was the “elimination” of Israel. He was speaking to the 56-nation Organisation of the Islamic Conference, which demanded an immediate ceasefire.

President Chávez of Venezuela recalled his ambassador to Israel last night to express indignation over what he called genocide in Lebanon.

Three of the Israeli civilians killed by Hezbollah rockets died in the town of Acre. Witnesses and rescue workers said that the first missile caused only injuries, but the second hit a silver Mazda driving through the deserted streets 30 seconds after sirens had sounded. The driver was killed. A third missile killed a father and his daughter who ran from their home to see the burning car.

In Tarshika, three Israeli Arabs were killed on their way to tend their cattle. They were hit in open ground, officials said. Hours before the missile attacks Mr Olmert had told The Times that Israel’s aggressive response to Hezbollah’s July 12 cross-border raid and rocket fire was a lesson to anyone not to fire upon her.

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