Visiting US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said yesterday that it was time to reach a ceasefire in the war between Israel and Hezbollah, Israeli local daily Ha'aretz reported.

Rice made the comments after Israel Air Force launched a deadly airstrike on a building in south Lebanon village of Qana on Sunday morning, during which 51 Lebanese civilians were killed.

The U.S. official, who arrived in Israel from Asia on Saturday, said that she was saddened by the bombing and confirmed that she had cancelled a planned trip to Beirut, Lebanon, but would stay in Israel to try to work out a deal for ending the 19-day-old conflict.

"I think it is time to get to a ceasefire ... We actually have to try and put one in place," Rice said in Jerusalem Sunday, adding that "My work towards a ceasefire is really here today."

Rice, however, reiterated that a ceasefire could not mean a return to the position before the war, which was triggered by Hezbollah's abduction of two Israeli soldiers in a raid out of south Lebanon on July 12.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) confirmed that the IDF hit at least ten targets in Qana and the sites targeted were houses occupied by Hezbollah cells that had launched Katyusha rockets into Israel in recent days.

The IDF said it had warned residents of Qana to leave and said Hezbollah bore responsibility for using it to fire rockets at Israel.

Earlier on Sunday morning, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said during a cabinet meeting that Qana was used as a Hezbollah base for launching hundreds of rockets at Israel.

Over 600 Lebanese and at least 50 Israelis were killed in the Israel-Hezbollah conflict since it began on July 12.