Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora on Wednesday urged the international community to seek an immediate halt to Israeli offensive, local media reported.

"The country has been torn to shreds. Is this the right of self-defense called by international community," Siniora heckled a gathering of foreign ambassadors in Beirut.

"We the Lebanese want life, we have chosen life. We refuse to die. Our choice is clear. We have survived the wars and destruction (before), we shall also do that now. I sincerely hope you will not let us down," he added.

The prime minister also vowed to seek compensation from Israel for the "unimaginable losses" to the nation's infrastructure. "We will spare no avenue to make Israel compensate."

The gathering showed the ambassadors, including the U.S. ambassador, a photo exhibit of damages from the Israeli bombardment, in which the international airport was hit and closed, roads bombed, bridges destroyed and various regions of the country cut off.

More than 300 Lebanese were killed, 1,000 wounded and half a million displaced during the week-long Israeli air raids in the wake of a deadly cross-border attack by Lebanese Shiite militant group Hezbollah last Wednesday.

Israel has rejected call for ceasefire unless Hezbollah freed the two captive Israeli soldiers unconditionally and the Lebanese army deployed along the border with Israel.

EU vows to try its best to end Israel-Lebanon crisis

JERUSALEM, July 19 (Xinhua) -- The European Union (EU) foreign policy chief Javier Solana on Wednesday said that EU will do its utmost to end the current Israel-Lebanon crisis as soon as possible.

Solana made the promise in a joint news conference in Jerusalem with Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni.

"We will try to continue working with all the friends in the (Middle East) region to stop as soon as possible" the bloodshed and the suffering which is taking place now, Solana told the reporters.

He, meanwhile, condemned Lebanese Hizbollah's cross-border raid on July 12 that led to the ongoing Israeli offensive in Lebanon, urging the group to release the two Israeli soldiers it held.

Solana, who arrived in Israel after meeting with top Lebanese officials in Beirut to work for a diplomatic solution to the crisis, also implicitly called on Syria and Iran, which "may have influence" to Hizbollah, to help end the ongoing conflict.

Livni, for her part, reiterated Israel's demands for a truce including an unconditional release of the soldiers, disarmament of Hizbollah and its removal from south Lebanon, so that the Lebanese government "can assert its control over all of Lebanon."

"Israel and the international community have the common goal to initiate a move that will bring a long-term change in the region and prevent the terror that Israelis and Lebanese are facing," she said.

Solana earlier met with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and was due to meet Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas Wednesday evening.