Libyan rebels have rejected an African Union initiative for a truce accepted by Gaddafi, and said the only solution was the strongman's ouster, an idea his son called "ridiculous."
The rebel rejection came after NATO chiefs warned that any deal must be "credible and verifiable," and as alliance warplanes were again in action against Gaddafi armour pounding Ajdabiya and Misrata.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton also stuck to US demands for Muammar Gaddafi to step down and leave Libya as part of a peaceful transition, but declined to comment on the proposed African Union deal before being fully briefed.
"We have made it very clear that we want to see a ceasefire, we want to see the Libyan regime forces pull back from the areas they have forcibly entered," she told a news conference in Washington.
"We want to see humanitarian assistance reach the people of Libya. These terms are non-negotiable.
"We believe, too, that there needs to be a transition that reflects the will of the Libyan people and the departure of Gaddafi from power and from Libya."
Kadhafi's son Seif al-Islam admitted that it was time for "new blood" in Libya, but called talk of his father stepping down "ridiculous."
"The Libyan Guide does not want to control everything. He is at an advanced age. We would like to bring a new elite of young people onto the scene to lead the country and direct local affairs," he told French network BFM.
"We need new blood that is what we want for the future but talk of the Guide leaving is truly ridiculous," he added.
Rebel leader Mustafa Abdul Jalil said in Benghazi that the African initiative has been surpassed.
"From the first day the demand of our people has been the ouster of Gaddafi and the fall of his regime," he said at a news conference in the rebel bastion.
"Muammar Gaddafi and his sons must leave immediately if they want to be safe... Any initiative that does not include the people's demand, the popular demand, essential demand, we cannot possibly recognise."
Abdul Jalil said the African initiative matched the UN Security Council calls for a ceasefire and the protection of civilians.
"This initiative that was presented today had been decided upon since March 10. A month has passed... during this long time Colonel Muammar Gaddafi did not respect these decisions, he bombed civilians with planes, missiles and rockets. He besieged cities with his forces. He placed security forces in civilian clothes inside city limits."
NATO said it struck more loyalist targets around Ajdabiya and the besieged port of Misrata on Sunday and Monday, destroying 11 Gaddafi regime tanks and five military vehicles.
The regime warned that any foreign intervention under the pretext of bringing aid into Misrata would be met by "staunch armed resistance," the official JANA news agency quoted the foreign ministry as saying.
"Libya will only accept humanitarian aid from the Red Cross and the Red Crescent," it said, adding that it had informed the UN Security Council, the European Union and the African Union of its position.
Diplomats in Brussels said on Friday that the EU is gearing up to deploy military assets for a humanitarian mission to evacuate wounded from Misrata and deliver food, water and medicine to the city.
NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen warned that warplanes will keep pounding Libyan forces as long as civilians are at risk.
"...I would also like to stress that the guiding principle for us will be how to implement the UN Security Council resolution fully, that is to protect the civilians against any attack," he said.
Shamsiddin Abdulmolah, a spokesman for the rebels' Transitional National Council, welcomed the African Union efforts, but demanded Muammar Gaddafi's overthrow.
"The people must be allowed to go into the streets to express their opinion and the soldiers must return to their barracks," he told AFP.
"If people are free to come out and demonstrate in Tripoli, then that's it. I imagine all of Libya will be liberated within moments."
He also demanded the release of hundreds of people missing since the outbreak of the popular uprising and believed to be held by Muammar Gaddafi's forces.
South African President Jacob Zuma said Tripoli had accepted the African Union plan for a ceasefire.
"We also in this communique are making a call on NATO to cease the bombings to allow and to give a ceasefire a chance," he said.
But White House spokesman Jay Carney told reporters: "Our response to the quote, unquote, ceasefire is what matters here are actions and not words.
"Colonel Muammar Gaddafi and his regime know full well what they need to do," he said, adding that Washington was not letting up in implementing the UN Security Council resolution in any way.
"The implementation continues and will continue as long as necessary. We continue to pursue our diplomatic and economic measures to tighten to noose around Gaddafi ."
The rebels doubted Kadhafi would adhere to a truce anyway.
"The world has seen these offers of ceasefires before and within 15 minutes (Kadhafi) starts shooting again," Abdulmolah said.
The rebels have said they would negotiate a political transition to democracy with certain senior regime figures, but only on the condition that Muammar Gaddafi and his sons leave Libya.
Meanwhile, near the eastern town of Ajdabiya, a doctor, Abdul Rahim Agouri, said that on Sunday they found a rebel helicopter shot down west of the town.
They recovered the bodies of three men from the scene and a fourth man, who was badly burned, was taken to hospital in Benghazi.
In Ajdabiya, an AFP correspondent saw more than a dozen burnt-out pick-up trucks which pro-Gaddafi fighters had fitted with heavy machine guns for their abortive offensive on the front line between the rebel-held east and the mainly government-held west.
Many of the bodies that the rebel fighters buried close to the battlefield on the town's western outskirts were charred beyond recognition after a NATO strike, combined with their own efforts to repulse the loyalist assault.
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