China has condemned Israel's bombing of civilians in southern Lebanon, and called on the two sides to declare an immediate cease-fire.

"China strongly urges the two sides involved in the conflict to cease fire immediately to avoid further disaster," Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said in a statement late Sunday.

An Israeli airstrike early Sunday on a three-story building in the south Lebanese village of Qana killed 56 people, almost all of them women and children, according to Red Cross officials and Lebanese police.

"The Chinese side strongly condemns this incident," Liu said in the statement posted to the ministry's Web site.