Lebanon’s Health Ministry said Israeli forces killed three people and wounded 31 others trying to return to homes in southern Lebanon as Israeli forces remained on the ground after a deadline to withdraw them on Sunday.
Israel said it aimed to keep troops in the south beyond a Sunday deadline set in a US-brokered ceasefire that halted last year’s war with Hezbollah, and on Saturday ordered residents not to return until further notice.
The deal stipulated that Israeli forces should withdraw from the south as Iran-backed Hezbollah weapons and fighters were removed from the region and the Lebanese army was deployed, during a 60-day period that ended Sunday morning.
However, Israel said that the conditions had not been fully implemented by the Lebanese state, while the US-backed army in Lebanon blamed Israel for its withdrawal.
Hezbollah TV, broadcasting from several locations in the south, showed footage of residents moving toward villages in defiance of Israeli orders, some carrying the group’s flag and photos of Hezbollah fighters killed in the war.
The Lebanese Ministry of Health said that one person was killed in the village of Hula, another in Aitaroun, and a third in Blida as a result of what it described as Israeli attacks on citizens as they tried to enter their unoccupied cities.
The IDF had no immediate comment on the reported losses.
An Israeli military spokeswoman, in a post on
Hezbollah, badly weakened by Israel during the war, has placed the onus on the Lebanese state to ensure Israel’s withdrawal, describing Israel’s failure to withdraw on time as a violation of the agreement.
“We are in our land and the enemy is the person who turned against the agreement and violated the agreement, so it is the people who liberate their lands with their hands and blood.” Al-Maman TV said in the group.
He added, “We want the state to play its role.”
The White House said Friday that a short, temporary extension was urgently needed.
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun, who was head of the US-backed Lebanese Army until Parliament elected the head of state on January 9, called on the people of the south to exercise restraint and trust the Lebanese Army.
“Lebanon’s sovereignty and territorial integrity are non-negotiable, and I am following this issue at the highest levels to ensure your rights and dignity,” he said in a statement.
Israel has not said how long its forces will remain in the south, where the IDF says it has been seizing Hezbollah’s weapons and dismantling its infrastructure.
The Hezbollah-Israel conflict was fought in parallel with the Gaza War, culminating in a major Israeli offensive against Hezbollah that uprooted more than a million people in Lebanon and left the militant group weakened.
