JERUSALEM - Attorney General Menachem Mazuz has given Prime Minister Ehud Olmert a list of options for investigating the conduct of the recent war in Lebanon, the Justice Ministry said Wednesday, as the Israeli leader faced mounting calls for a sweeping probe.

Israel's Prime Minister Ehud Olmert speaks during a visit to the northern Israeli city of Kiryat Shmona August 21, 2006, in this picture released by the Israeli Government Press Office. Olmert rejected suggestions from within his cabinet that Israel should talk to Syria, saying peace negotiations could be held only if Damascus stopped backing groups such as Hizbollah. [Reuters]

One of the alternatives Mazuz presented to Olmert on Tuesday was an independent commission of inquiry, with the power to dismiss top government and military officials. Olmert is under growing public pressure to authorize such a panel, rather than an alternative inquiry that would have narrower powers.

The Haaretz newspaper reported Wednesday that Olmert would likely choose a preferred option by the end of the week.

The final decision is up to the Cabinet.

Olmert has sidestepped calls for a sweeping, independent inquiry, and instead, asked Mazuz to draw up a list of possible reviews that could be conducted. Other options open to the government, Mazuz said, included government or parliamentary inquiries.

The war, launched just hours after Hezbollah guerrillas killed three Israeli soldiers and captured two in a cross-border raid July 12, enjoyed broad public support at the outset, but lost favor after Olmert accepted a U.N.-brokered truce without crushing Hezbollah or winning the captives' release.

The deaths of 34 soldiers in last-minute battles just before the truce took hold only deepened the outrage, as have reports that the military was so ill-prepared that it didn't even have enough food, water or bullets for its fighters.