The US warned against any "escalations" in violence, as Israel widened its war against Hezbollah and US assistant Secretary of State David Welch, met Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora in Beirut.
Diplomacy was to the fore in Jerusalem where Germany’s Foreign Minister, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, met his Israeli counterpart, Tzipi Livni, urging Israel to accept the terms of a draft UN resolution.
"We think, together with many others in the international community, that a return to the previous status quo must not be possible, or, as I already have said somewhere else, that the violence-ridden relationship between Israel and Hezbollah cannot continue, and that solutions have to be based on this,” Mr Steinmeier said.
“You know that the UN Security Council is making immense efforts, not just in the past days but even right now, to find such a solution," he said.
"Our expectation, as we also discussed in our meeting, is that the international community will act so that in the end of the operations the Israeli army is doing today a change will be possible in Lebanon, a change meaning that Hezbollah will not be in south Lebanon, that the Lebanese army will go south Lebanon and in this connection the Lebanese Prime Minister's announcement is definitely positive,” Ms Livni said.
“But it is important that the Lebanese army will be accompanied by an international force that will enable it to reach the south in an organised manner, and to preserve the place clean of Hezbollah," she said.
No progress says Siniora
Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora said there had been no progress on drafting a new resolution to try to end the conflict.
"There is no progress so far. We are still at the same place," he said after meeting US Middle East envoy David Welch, on a surprise visit to Beirut.
The pair held two rounds of talks but there was no immediate announcement of any progress.
In Washington White House spokesman Tony Snow said the US wanted an end to violence but did not want an escalation.
Days after confidently predicting UN Security Council action by Tuesday, US officials acknowledged that divisions among the United States, France, Lebanon and Israel made it impossible to set a date for a vote.
"At this point, it's beyond any of us to come up with a firm prediction about when you get a resolution," Mr Snow said as US President George W Bush began a 10-day vacation on his Texas ranch.
"There's a range of views and a lot of concerns, and we're working to address those concerns," said the spokesman. "We're not declaring an impasse."
The spokesman seemed to suggest that a key sticking point was the deployment of an international force to help the Lebanese military secure southern Lebanon and put an end to future attacks against Israel.
Lebanon says the resolution must call for an immediate Israeli withdrawal.
The United States has warned of a "vacuum", arguing Lebanon's armed forces are not strong enough to quell action by Hezbollah.
French President Jacques Chirac said that giving up on efforts to secure an immediate Middle East cease-fire would be an “immoral” response by international community.
"It seems today that Americans are showing certain reservations in adopting the resolution,” Mr Chirac said.
“But I can not imagine that there isn't a solution because that would mean, and that would be the most immoral of solutions, that we accept the current situation and give up on an immediate cease-fire. I can't imagine that coming from the Americans or anyone else," he said.
Israel's security cabinet voted earlier to expand the ground war in Lebanon to try to deliver a knockout blow to Hezbollah, amid warnings that the conflict could last another month or more.