The Cypriot government on Monday strongly condemned the Israeli airstrike on southern Lebanese village of Qana which killed over 50 civilians, most of them children and women.

"Israel's action is a flagrant violation of international law principles and fundamental humanitarian values," the Cyprus Foreign Ministry said in a statement issued here on Monday.

In the statement, the ministry also called for an immediate ceasefire and an urgent international action to secure permanent and lasting peace in Lebanon.

Meanwhile, Government Spokesman Christodoulos Pashiardis renewed the government's appeal for an immediate ceasefire in his daily briefing, saying that the peace process, which would lead to the final solution to the current crisis, would not start unless a permanent ceasefire was reached on the basis of an immediate one.

He said that Cyprus government's position is and remains that armed violence, wherever it comes from, would not solve anything.

The spokesman said that Cypriot President Tassos Papadopoulos has sent a message of condolences to the president and prime minister of Lebanon to express his repulsion and deep regret over the death of innocent civilians in Qana.

Source: Xinhua