BRITISH warships were steaming towards Beirut last night to rescue thousands of Britons trapped in Lebanon as world leaders struggled to find a solution to the Middle East crisis.

Heads of the Group of Eight (G8) nations meeting in St Petersburg set the conditions for a ceasefire by calling for the return of captured Israeli soldiers, an end to Hezbollah rocket attacks, and a halt to Israeli operations in Lebanon and Gaza. But no end to the five-day crisis appeared in sight.

In Israel, Hezbollah killed eight Israeli rail workers in a missile strike in Haifa — the deadliest on the Jewish state — while in the Lebanese port city of Tyre, an Israeli airstrike killed at least nine civilians, security officials said. A G8 statement blamed Hezbollah and Hamas extremists for the hostage crisis that has left hundreds dead and destabilised the region.

But it also urged the “utmost restraint” on Israel after international criticism over the scale of civilian deaths.

Israeli warplanes, which had already devastated Beirut overnight in the heaviest raids yet, returned hours after the Haifa barrage to inflict more damage.

A succession of airstrikes late last night targeted Tripoli, Lebanon’s second-largest city and northern-most port, as well as Beirut’s airport and Hezbollah strongholds in the eastern Lebanon town of Baalbek. Israeli jets also destroyed the Palestinian Foreign Ministry in Gaza City.

Lebanese police said that more than 140 people had been killed, nearly all of them civilians. Another four died last night after Israeli gunboats fired on a village south of Beirut. More than

20 Israelis have also died in the conflict.

Milos Strugar, a senior official with the United Nations peacekeeping force in south Lebanon, told The Times that Israel had turned the border district into a free-fire zone.

A UN convoy was stranded in Marwahine village, 12 miles (20km) from the coast yesterday when Israeli shelling blocked the route to its HQ.

The convoy had arrived in Marwahine to evacuate some of the 150 remaining residents. Israel had told them to leave, but they were hit by Israeli helicopters as they departed and 16 died.

UN and European Union peace missions to Lebanon are expected to report back to the Security Council on Thursday.

Although Israel welcomed the G8 statement, the Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said that the attacks would not deter his country’s determination to end the Hezbollah threat. “Our enemies are trying to disrupt life in Israel — they will fail,” he said.

But the Hezbollah leader, Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, vowed that more surprises lay in wait for Israel. “We are just at the beginning,” he said.

The Royal Navy warships were not expected to arrive until Wednesday. Kim Howells, the Foreign Office Minister, said that any evacuation would “take some doing”.

“We want to get those who we need to get out as safely and as quickly as possible.” The most vulnerable would be the first in line, he said.

France has chartered a cruise ship and a ferry to transport French and other European citizens to Cyprus. The vessels should arrive in Beirut today.

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