Israeli Vice Premier Shimon Peres on Wednesday questioned the reported casualty count in Lebanon after days of pounding by Israeli warplanes.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, left, speaks with Vice Premier Shimon Peres, right, at the Knesset, Israel's parliament, in Jerusalem, Monday, July 17, 2006. After six days of fighting in Lebanon, Olmert said Monday that the fighting would end when the two soldiers captured by Hezbollah guerrillas were freed, rocket attacks on Israel stopped and the Lebanese army deployed along the border. [AP]

Lebanese government and police sources and local residents have reported at least 299 people killed in Lebanon, in the conflict triggered in retaliation for Hizbollah's July 12 capture of two Israeli soldiers in a cross-border raid.

In Israel, 29 people have been killed, according to accounts from the Israeli Army and medics.

"The numbers of the victims (in Lebanon) are not acceptable. We think that information coming from Lebanon is totally unreliable," Peres said in an interview on CNN.

Peres did not offer a casualty figure.

He said the Israeli military was taking steps to make sure "no civilian life will be hit, that no civilian infrastructure will be destroyed."

Peres also dismissed criticism from Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora of the relentless Israeli bombing campaign.

"Why doesn't he stop the Hizbollah?" Peres asked. "Israel didn't start the war. Israel didn't attack anybody.