BEIRUT, July 17 - Israeli air strikes killed 42 people across Lebanon on Monday, including 10 civilians hit on a southern bridge, on the sixth day of a bombardment that has wreaked the heaviest destruction in Lebanon for over 20 years.

Smoke raises above buildings after an Israeli air strike of Al Howsh in the south-eastern Lebanon town of Tyre July 17, 2006.[Reuters]

Rescuers also pulled nine bodies from the wreckage of a building in the southern city of Tyre that was bombed on Sunday, raising the death toll since Israel's offensive began to 204, all but 14 of them civilians.

The fighting was triggered when Hizbollah, the guerrilla group which is backed by Syria and Iran and is part of Lebanon's government, seized two Israeli soldiers and killed eight in a cross-border raid on northern Israel on July 12.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said the Jewish state would pursue its offensive until the two soldiers were returned and the Lebanese army controlled all of south Lebanon. "Our enemies have challenged the state of Israel's sovereignty and the peace of its citizens," Olmert said in an address.

An Israeli government source said Israel may step up attacks in coming days, mindful its chief ally, the United States, might not resist indefinitely international pressure for a ceasefire.

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said Security Council members would start work on a detailed agreement on deploying a multinational security force to south Lebanon, but Washington gave only a guarded welcome and Israel said it was premature.

"We're at the stage where we want to be sure that Hizbollah is not deployed at our northern border," Israeli government spokeswoman Miri Eisin said.

Twenty-four Israelis have been killed in the fighting, including 12 civilians hit in rocket attacks.

Israeli planes hit coastal targets in the north and south, struck Beirut and damaged homes in the east belonging to members of Hizbollah, which fired more rockets deep into Israel.

Blasts rocked Beirut through the day and civilian installations, petrol stations and factories were also hit.

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