Last night the UN Security Council appeared to be on the verge of securing a ceasefire deal as the US and France worked on a series of concessions to an Arab League delegation which flew into New York on behalf of the Lebanese government.
Security council diplomats were reworking a draft resolution to take account of changes requested by the Arab League, including the withdrawal of Israeli forces from southern Lebanon as quickly as possible.
The potential breakthrough has been made possible by the offer on Monday night of the Lebanese government to deploy its forces in southern Lebanon quicker than expected to replace Israeli forces and prevent further Hizbullah attacks.
Lebanon yesterday was pinning its hopes for peace on the unanimous offer by the cabinet - including two Hizbullah ministers - to deploy 15,000 soldiers south of the Litani River, alongside the 2,000 UN peacekeepers of Unifil, the moment Israeli troops withdraw.
The replacement of Hizbullah by government troops was demanded by UN Security Council resolution 1559 two years ago, but was considered too internally divisive to be implemented.
While bombardments against both countries continued yesterday, the Israeli prime minister, Ehud Olmert, said that the Lebanese proposal was "interesting" and Israel would "examine it closely".
Lebanon's president, Émile Lahoud, and Hizbullah had until this week opposed the deployment of the army.
Philippe Douste-Blazy, France's foreign minister, said that Lebanon's pledge to deploy its army in the south was an "important contribution towards solving the current crisis". The US and France agreed to incorporate the plan into the draft resolution. In a further concession to the Arab League - the organisation which represents all Arab governments - they also agreed to state in the draft that a proposed international force should take over Shebaa Farms, the small pocket of land Israel held on to when it pulled out of Lebanon in 2000.
The proposed changes delay further the security council vote, which diplomats said might not take place until tomorrow.
The Israeli prime minister has called a meeting of his security cabinet for today to discuss several options, including the expansion of its ground offensive if there were to be no diplomatic breakthrough.
Israeli air raids yesterday killed 14 people and wounded 23 in the southern Lebanese village of Ghaziyeh. The bombs fell as mourners elsewhere in the village were burying 15 people killed by a raid there on Monday. Four Israeli soldiers were also killed yesterday.