Three aid ships were prevented from docking at the port of Misrata during the sweep, temporarily cutting off the besieged city of 300,000 people from its only lifeline.
In a rambling pre-dawn speech, Qaddafi said “the door to peace is open.” “You are the aggressors. We will negotiate with you.
Come, France, Italy, UK, America, come to negotiate with us. Why are you attacking us?” he asked.
He also railed against foreign intervention, saying Libyans have the right to choose their own political system, but not under the threat of NATO bombings.
Late Saturday evening, two booms were heard in Tripoli, apparently from NATO airstrikes. Government spokesman Moussa Ibrahim declined to comment when asked what was targeted.
In Brussels, a NATO official said the alliance needed “to see not words but actions,” and vowed the alliance would keep up the pressure until the UN Security Council mandate on Libya is fulfilled. NATO has promised to continue operations until all attacks and threats against civilians have ceased, all of Qaddafi’s forces have returned to bases and full humanitarian access is granted.
The NATO official, who spoke on condition of anonymity according to policy, noted that Qaddafi’s forces had shelled Misrata and tried to mine the city’s port just hours before his speech.
“The regime has announced cease-fires several times before and continued attacking cities and civilians,” the official said.
“All this has to stop, and it has to stop now,” the official said.
Rebel leaders have said they will only lay down their arms and begin talks after Qaddafi and his sons step aside.
Qaddafi has repeatedly refused to resign.
A rebel spokesman, Jalal Al-Galal, called the cease-fire offer a publicity stunt.
“We don’t believe that there is a solution that includes him or any member of his family. So it is well past any discussions. The only solution is for him to depart,” he said.
The British Foreign and Commonwealth Office said Qaddafi needs to stop attacking his people before any political transition can be achieved. Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said NATO needs to intervene because of the “horror” wrought by Qaddafi’s regime.
Italy will host a one-day summit Thursday on Libya, bringing together the main international players in the six-week NATO campaign, including US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton.
NATO has carried out hundreds of airstrikes in the past month as part of a UN mandate to protect Libyan civilians. The alliance has struck Qaddafi-linked military targets, but also his residential compound.
Before dawn Saturday, warplanes hit beachfront government buildings in Tripoli.
Libyan officials alleged the strike was meant to kill Qaddafi as he spoke live on state TV, but the broadcast building was not damaged and Qaddafi spoke from an undisclosed location.
The strikes badly damaged a two-story building that Libyan officials said housed several welfare and human rights organizations. A school for children with Down syndrome and the offices of parliamentary staff were also damaged.
A security guard at the site said three people were hurt.
NATO said the target was a command-and-control center. A TV transmission tower and a large cell phone antenna stood nearby, and a third strike gouged a crater just 50 meters (50 yards) from the TV building.
Foreign diplomats and local church leaders inspected the airstrike damage in a government-escorted tour.
“Bombing is not a solution,” said Bishop Giovanni Martinelli, the senior Catholic clergyman in Tripoli, adding that he was giving his personal view.
Much of the recent fighting has focused on western Libya, including Misrata and a border crossing into Tunisia.
Clashes continued around the edges of Misrata, with intense battles in the Al-Gheran neighborhood southwest of the city center. The fighting killed at least 10 people, including two brothers aged 10 and 16, and wounded 17 others, according to officials at central Hikma hospital.
Five fighters, including a rebel commander, were killed in clashes with Qaddafi’s troops in the city’s east.
Fighter Mohammed Sebti said rebels were using heavy artillery they had captured and managed to hit a government vehicle. Qaddafi’s forces responded with truck-mounted rockets.
Human Rights Watch said two mines had been destroyed by NATO forces combing Misrata’s port while a third was being closely monitored.
On Friday, NATO intercepted boats laying anti-ship mines in the waters near Misrata. A NATO warship could be seen in the distance while a smaller boat circled the harbor’s entrance Saturday.
Rebel security officials said NATO ships had been searching since about 1 a.m., and one of the mines was destroyed nearly two miles from the port.
Hundreds of desperate migrants and residents waited for the port to reopen.
Ibrahim, the government spokesman, said he was unaware of the mine-laying. He said the government is trying to prevent weapons from reaching the rebels by sea and any aid shipments must be coordinated with the authorities and preferably should come overland.
