By Laila Bassam and Alexander Cornwell
BEIRUT/JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israeli forces killed 22 people in southern Lebanon on Sunday as an evacuation deadline expired and thousands tried to return home in defiance of Israeli military orders, Lebanese authorities said.
Israel said on Friday it would keep troops in the south beyond a Sunday deadline set by a U.S.-brokered ceasefire that halted last year’s war with Hezbollah, saying Lebanon had yet to fully implement conditions requiring southern Lebanon to rid Hezbollah of arms and weapons. . The Lebanese army will be deployed.
The US-backed Lebanese army, which reported one of its soldiers was among those killed by Israeli forces on Sunday, has been blamed by Israel for delaying the withdrawal.
The Hezbollah-Israeli conflict ran parallel to the Gaza war and culminated in a major Israeli offensive that killed more than a million people in Lebanon and severely weakened the Iran-backed group.
Lebanon’s health ministry said 22 people were killed and 124 wounded in multiple locations in the south in what it described as Israeli attacks on civilians as they tried to enter still-occupied towns.
Israel’s military said its troops “fired warning shots in southern Lebanon to eliminate threats in a number of areas where suspects were identified as approaching troops.” It also said that “several suspects … who posed an imminent threat” had been arrested.
Hezbollah’s al-Manar television, broadcasting from several locations in the south, showed footage of residents moving toward villages on Sunday, some holding the group’s flag and pictures of Hezbollah fighters killed in the war.
An Israeli military spokesman, addressing the people of southern Lebanon in a post on X, accused Hezbollah of “inflaming the situation” and said the Israeli army would “in the near future” inform them of the places they can return to.
Hezbollah placed responsibility on the Lebanese state to ensure Israel’s withdrawal.
Hezbollah lawmaker Hassan Fadlallah said Lebanon is committed to the cease-fire agreement, but Israel has come out against it with US support. The White House said Friday that a brief, temporary extension of the ceasefire was urgently needed.
The president calls on the southerners to trust the army
“What is happening in the border villages is liberation by people’s power, and our people will not be destroyed by the Israeli army,” he told Reuters. We want the state to fully fulfill its role and deploy the army in the villages.
“We are working with him to facilitate the mission.
The top UN official in Lebanon and UN peacekeeping chief in the south said conditions were “not yet in place” for the safe return of Lebanese citizens to villages near the border. It is a fact that the terms stipulated by the ceasefire agreement have not been observed,” the statement said.
The agreement specifies a 60-day implementation period.
President Joseph Aoun, head of Lebanon’s army until parliament elected him head of state on January 9, urged southerners to show restraint and trust in the Lebanese military.
“Lebanon’s sovereignty and territorial integrity are non-negotiable and I am following this matter at the highest level 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 Israeli military says it is seizing Hezbollah’s weapons and destroying its infrastructure.
Israel said its offensive against Hezbollah was aimed at repatriating tens of thousands of Israelis who had been forced to flee their homes by Hezbollah rocket fire across the border.
Hezbollah opened fire in support of its Palestinian ally Hamas at the start of the Gaza War on October 8, 2023.