Lebanon’s Mays Al-Jabaal At least 22 people were killed and 124 injured when Israeli forces in southern Lebanon opened fire on demonstrators who were demanding to leave in accordance with a ceasefire agreement on Sunday, according to Lebanese health officials.
After Israel asked for more time to withdraw beyond the 60-day period outlined in a ceasefire agreement that halted the Israel-Hezbollah war in late November, the White House announced hours later on Sunday that Israel and Lebanon had agreed to extend the deadline for Israeli troops to leave southern Lebanon until February 18.
Israel has stated that in order to prevent Hezbollah from reestablishing its presence in the region, it must remain longer because the Lebanese army has not yet reached every region of southern Lebanon. According to the Lebanese army, it cannot deploy until Israeli forces leave the area.
In a statement, the White House stated that the U.S.-monitored agreement between Israel and Lebanon will remain in force until February 18, 2025. Negotiations for the repatriation of Lebanese inmates taken after October 7, 2023, will also be initiated by the respective governments, it was noted.
The extension was confirmed by Lebanese interim Prime Minister Najib Mikati, but the Israeli government did not immediately comment.
The declaration was made just hours after protesters, some of whom were holding Hezbollah flags, tried to infiltrate a number of towns to voice their disapproval of Israel’s refusal to leave southern Lebanon by the stated deadline of Sunday.
Six women and a Lebanese army member were among the deceased, according to a statement from the Health Ministry. There have been reports of injuries in around 20 border settlements.
The Israeli army accused Hezbollah of inciting the demonstrations on Sunday.
In a statement, it stated that its soldiers used warning shots to eliminate threats in many locations where suspects were seen to be coming. It further stated that many people near Israeli troops had been detained and were being interrogated.
Israel accused Hamas of breaking a tenuous ceasefire by altering the order of hostages it has freed, preventing hundreds of Palestinians from returning to their homes in northern Gaza on Sunday. This situation in Lebanon follows that same day.
Lebanon’s sovereignty and territorial integrity are non-negotiable, according to Lebanese President Joseph Aounsaid in a statement to the people of southern Lebanon on Sunday. I am pursuing this matter at the highest levels to protect your rights and dignity.
He advised them to trust the Lebanese Armed Forces and practice self-control. In a different statement, the Lebanese army said it was transporting civilians into a few border towns and urged citizens to heed military orders to protect themselves.
Sunday’s violence is a clear and urgent call for the international community to act immediately and force Israel to leave occupied Lebanese territories, according to Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, whose Amal Movement party is allied with Hezbollah and who acted as an intermediary between the militant group and the United States during ceasefire negotiations.
Avichay Adraee, an Israeli military spokeswoman in Arabic, wrote on X that Hezbollah had deployed rioters and was attempting to inflame the situation in order to conceal its position and standing in Lebanon and the Arab world.
On Sunday morning, he issued a warning to the people living along the border to avoid trying to go back to their communities.
In a joint statement, U.N. Special Coordinator for Lebanon Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert and Lt. Gen. Aroldo L. Zaro, the commander of mission of the U.N. peacekeeping force known as UNIFIL, urged Israel and Lebanon to fulfill their responsibilities under the ceasefire accord.
According to the statement, the deadlines outlined in the November Understanding have not been fulfilled. Conditions are still not in place for residents to safely return to their communities along the Blue Line, as was tragically demonstrated this morning.
According to UNIFIL, additional violence runs the risk of jeopardizing the region’s precarious security situation as well as the stability prospects brought about by the end of hostilities and the establishment of a government in Lebanon.
It demanded the full evacuation of Israeli forces, the destruction of illegal weapons and property south of the Litani River, the redeployment of the Lebanese army throughout the entirety of south Lebanon, and the safe and respectable repatriation of civilians who had been displaced on both sides of the Blue Line.
When an AP team joined a peacekeeper patrol on Saturday, the Israeli army set up barriers, leaving them stranded overnight at a UNIFIL outpost near Mays al-Jabal. Reporters claimed to have heard gunfire and loud noises coming from the base on Sunday morning, while peacekeepers reported that scores of demonstrators had gathered close by.
Families in the village of Aita al Shaab walked over concrete buildings that had been leveled in search of the remains of the houses they had left behind. There were no Israeli troops there.
One of the returning inhabitants, Hussein Bajouk, declared, “These are our houses.” We will rebuild, no matter how much they demolish.
Bajouk went on to say that he believes Hassan Nasrallah, the previous leader of Hezbollah, who was killed in an Israeli strike in the southern suburbs of Beirut in September, is still alive.
Using an honorific for Nasrallah, he stated, “I don’t know how much longer we’re going to wait, another month or two months… but the Sayyed will come out and speak.”
Orna Weinberg, who lives in the kibbutz of Manara on the opposite side of the border, looked at the destruction caused by the recent fighting to her neighbors and the Lebanese settlements across the border. In the distance, there were intermittent bursts of gunfire.
Weinberg, 58, stated, “Unfortunately, we have no way of defending our own children without harming their children.” It’s tragic on many fronts.
Out of the more than 1 million Lebanese who left their homes during the conflict, about 112,000 are still displaced.