Israeli officials have walked out of a meeting convened to try to prevent a further escalation of the tension in southern Lebanon.

The walkout appears to be a response to the killing of an Israeli soldier in a rocket and mortar attack by suspected Hezbollah fighters.

An unnamed delegate at the meeting is quoted as saying that the Israeli officials were pulled out on orders from their government before the meeting could officially open.

Seventh killing

Israeli military censors have prevented Israeli accounts of the incident emerging, but Lebanese officials say the soldier was killed and another was wounded at the Beaufort Castle base in Israel's self-declared security zone.

Lebanese officials say Israeli planes immediately launched air strikes in the area.

This is the seventh killing of an Israeli soldier in the security zone in recent weeks.

The meeting in the Lebanese coastal town of Naqoura was a gathering of the panel charged with monitoring an agreement between Israel and Hezbollah called the 1996 Grapes of Wrath understanding.

The panel - from Israel, Lebanon, Syria, the United States and France - convened because of accusations that the understanding which was designed to avoid civilian casualties had been broken.

Twenty Lebanese civilians have been injured in the Israeli air strikes that started on Monday night. The strikes were launched in response to a sudden upsurge in attacks by Hezbollah on Israeli military targets in the security zone.

Mixed signals

Israel has been issuing mixed signals about its commitment to the 1996 understanding.

Israel's Deputy Defence Minister Ephraim Sneh indicated earlier this week that Israel no longer felt bound by the understanding.

However, a senior security adviser to the Israeli prime minister, Danny Yatom accused Hezbollah of violating the agreement, suggesting that Israel still considered the arrangement valid.

"If the terrorists continue to violate these arrangements by launching attacks against our soldiers from villages, we will feel free to attack targets in Lebanon including civilian infrastructure," Mr Yatom said.

Adherence by Hezbollah to the agreement has come as a surprise to Israeli strategists.

The group has not resorted to firing Katyusha rockets at Israeli border villages - concentrating instead on Israeli military targets within the security zone.

The Israeli army on Thursday issued the all-clear for Israeli civilians near the Lebanese border to leave the shelters they had been hiding in for three days.

Israel to leave Lebanon by July

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak has said that he is determined to honour his election pledge to withdraw his troops from southern Lebanon by July.

Mr Barak said on Friday that Israel would continue to retaliate against attacks on its soldiers, but added: "We are about to end this tragedy."

Mr Barak said that he plans to withdraw as part of a peace agreement, but did not discount a unilateral withdrawal.