Lebanon yesterday said it would extend a ceasefire deal with Israel until mid-February, even though the Israeli military failed to meet a deadline to withdraw its troops and killed 22 people in the south of the country.
The deadly violence recorded by health officials on Sunday came as residents tried to return home, as Israel was scheduled to pull its troops from southern Lebanon.
The withdrawal deadline is part of a ceasefire agreement reached two months ago that ended Israel’s war with Iran-backed Hezbollah, which had left the Lebanese militant group weakened.
Photo: AP
The deal that took effect on Nov. 27 last year said the Lebanese military was to deploy alongside UN peacekeepers in the south as the Israeli army withdrew over a 60-day period.
The parties have traded blame for the delay in implementing the agreement, and Israel on Friday said it would keep troops across the border in south Lebanon beyond the pull out date.
The Lebanese Ministry of Public Health on Sunday said that Israeli forces opened fire on “citizens who were trying to return to their villages that are still under [Israeli] occupation.”
It said 22 people, including six women and a soldier, were killed and 124 more wounded.
The Israeli military in a statement said that its “troops operating in southern Lebanon fired warning shots to remove threats” where “suspects were identified approaching the troops.”
“A number of suspects ... that posed an imminent threat to the troops were apprehended,” it added.
Journalists said convoys of vehicles carrying hundreds of people, some flying yellow Hezbollah flags, were trying to get to several border villages.
“We will return to our villages and the Israeli enemy will leave,” even if it costs lives, said Ali Harb, a 27-year-old trying to go to Kfar Kila.
A joint statement from UN special coordinator for Lebanon Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert and the head of the UNIFIL peacekeeping mission acknowledged that “conditions are not yet in place for the safe return of citizens to their villages.”
A correspondent saw hundreds of people gather for a collective prayer on a main road in the border town of Bint Jbeil, followed by a march to some nearby villages.
Residents could also be seen heading on foot and by motorbike toward Mays al-Jabal, where Israeli troops are still stationed.
Some held up portraits of former Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, slain in an Israeli attack in late September last year, while women dressed in black carried photos of family members killed in the war.
Hezbollah hailed it a “glorious day” and praised residents’ “deep attachment to their land” in a statement on Sunday.
The group also called on the backers of the ceasefire agreement — which includes the US and France — to “assume their responsibilities in the face of these violations and crimes of the Israeli enemy.”
After talks with the US, Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati yesterday said the government would “continue implementing the ceasefire agreement until February 18, 2025.”
Israeli military spokesman Avichay Adraee had issued a message earlier on Sunday to residents of more than 60 villages in southern Lebanon telling them not to return.
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun called on residents to keep a cool head and “trust the Lebanese army” which sought their safe return home.
The Lebanese army earlier said it would “continue to accompany residents” returning to the south and “protect them from Israeli attacks.”
Meanwhile, Israel yesterday began allowing Palestinians to return to the Gaza Strip for the first time since the early weeks of the 15-month war with Hamas, in accordance with a fragile ceasefire.
Thousands of Palestinians headed north after waiting for days to cross. Reporters saw people crossing the so-called Netzarim corridor shortly after 7am when the checkpoints were scheduled to open.
The opening was delayed for two days over a dispute between Hamas and Israel, which said the militant group had changed the order of the hostages it released in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.
Mediators resolved the dispute overnight.
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