At least eleven people were killed and 83 others injured by Israeli forces in southern Lebanon, the Lebanese Health Ministry said, as residents of villages near the border defied orders from the Israeli military not to return to their homes.
The deaths occurred this Sunday (26), when the deadline for Israel to withdraw its forces from the region expired, as part of a ceasefire agreement that ended months of conflict with Hezbollah.
Under the November ceasefire agreement, Israeli and Hezbollah forces agreed to withdraw from southern Lebanon by January 26, the end of the 60-day period stipulated in the agreement.
But Israel’s government said on Friday that the military would not withdraw all of its forces from southern Lebanon by a Sunday deadline, blaming Lebanon for not fulfilling its side of the agreement. The Lebanese Army, in turn, accused Israel of “procrastination”.
Lebanon’s Health Ministry said the Israeli military launched attacks on Lebanese citizens on Sunday who tried to enter cities still occupied by Israeli forces.
Of those killed, one was a soldier “targeted by Israeli enemy fire,” the Lebanese Army said.
A video verified by CNN showed residents on foot in Kfar Kila, southern Lebanon, trying to return to their villages. Some were seen carrying Hezbollah flags, while others held images of militant fighters killed in the war.
The measure comes after the Israeli Army issued a new order this Sunday for residents of dozens of villages in southern Lebanon not to return to their homes.
“Urgent!! A further reminder to residents of southern Lebanon: Until further notice, you are prohibited from moving south to the village line and its surroundings,” wrote Avichay Adraee, Arabic-language spokesman for the Israel Defense Forces ( IDF), in X.
The post included a map of southern Lebanon with an area along the border with Israel shaded red and a list of more than 60 villages that residents were banned from accessing.
“The Defense Forces do not intend to target you and therefore at this stage you are prohibited from returning to your homes from this southern line until further notice. Anyone moving south of this line puts themselves at risk,” Adraee said.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said its troops operating in southern Lebanon “fired warning shots to remove threats in several areas where suspects were identified approaching troops.”
The Israeli military added that it had detained several suspects for questioning, saying they posed an “imminent threat to troops.”
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said he was “monitoring this issue at the highest levels” in a statement.
“Lebanon’s sovereignty and the unity of its territory are not subject to concessions,” he said and promised southern residents that he would “guarantee their rights and dignity.”
The United Nations called on both sides to urgently commit to the deal, while its peacekeeping force said it was being deployed to areas in southern Lebanon at the request of the Lebanese army.
Understand conflicts in the Middle East
Israel launched a major air and ground offensive against the Hezbollah group in Lebanon in late September. Like Hamas, Hezbollah and Islamic Jihad are radical groups financed by Iran, and therefore enemies of Israel.
Bombings in Lebanon have intensified in recent months, causing destruction and forcing more than a million people to leave their homes to escape the war. The conflict between Israel and Hezbollah has already left dozens of people dead in Lebanese territory.
At the same time, the war continues in the Gaza Strip, where the Israeli military is fighting Hamas and searching for hostages who were kidnapped more than a year ago during the radical group’s attack on Israeli territory on October 7, 2023. At the time, more than 1,200 people were killed and 250 kidnapped.
Since then, more than 43,000 Palestinians have died in Gaza during the Israeli offensive, which also destroyed virtually every building in the Palestinian territory.
On a third front of conflict, Israel and Iran exchanged attacks, which despite raising tension, did not evolve into an all-out war.
In addition, the Israeli Army has been carrying out bombings on Iranian-allied militia targets in Syria, Yemen and Iraq.
(With information from Mariana Catacci,
This content was originally published in Israeli forces kill eleven people and leave injured in southern Lebanon on the CNN Brasil website.
Source: CNN Brasil
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