Israeli forces killed three people and wounded 31 others trying to return to their homes in southern Lebanon, where Israeli troops remained on the ground after a deadline for their withdrawal passed on Sunday, the Health Ministry said. Lebanon.
Israel has said it intends to keep troops in the south beyond the Sunday deadline stipulated in the U.S.-brokered ceasefire that halted last year’s conflict with Hezbollah, and on Saturday ordered residents not to return until new notice.
The agreement stipulated that Israeli forces should withdraw from the south as the weapons and fighters of Iran-backed Hezbollah were withdrawn from the area and the Lebanese army was deployed, within a 60-day period that ended Sunday. the morning.
However, Israel has said the Lebanese state has not fully implemented the terms, while Lebanon’s US-backed army on Saturday accused Israel of delaying its withdrawal.
of Hezbollah al-Manar Television, broadcasting from several locations in the south, showed images of residents moving toward villages in defiance of Israeli orders, some holding the group’s flag, and images of Hezbollah fighters killed in the conflict.
The Lebanese Health Ministry said one person was killed in the village of Houla, 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 still-occupied towns.
The Israeli military had no immediate comment on the reported casualties.
An Israeli military spokesman, in an . .
Hezbollah, severely weakened by Israel during the conflict, has charged the Lebanese state with the responsibility of ensuring Israel’s withdrawal, describing Israel’s failure to withdraw in time as a violation of the agreement.
“We are in our land and the enemy is the one who turned against the agreement and violated it, and therefore the people are the ones who are liberating their land with their own hands and blood,” said Hezbollah lawmaker Hassan Fadlallah. in statements to al-Manar television said of the group.
“We want the State to play its role,” he added.
The White House said Friday that a brief, temporary extension of the ceasefire was urgently needed.
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun, who was head of the US-backed Lebanese army until parliament elected him head of state on January 9, called on people in the south to exercise self-restraint and trust in the Lebanese army.
“Lebanon’s sovereignty and territorial integrity are non-negotiable, and I am following up on this issue at the highest level to guarantee its rights and dignity,” he said in a statement.
Israel has not said how long its forces would remain in the south, where the Israeli military says it has been confiscating Hezbollah weapons and dismantling its infrastructure.
The conflict between Hezbollah and Israel was fought in parallel to the Gaza conflict and peaked with a major Israeli offensive against Hezbollah that uprooted more than a million people in Lebanon and left the group greatly weakened.
