ON Sunday, the day Israeli forces were due to withdraw from southern Lebanon, the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health reported that the Israeli army had shot and killed at least 24 people, including six women, and injured 134 others, among them 14 women and 12 children.
The next day, Israeli forces shot and killed at least two people and wounded 17.
The killings are the latest in a series of Israeli attacks since a ceasefire between the Lebanese Shia group Hezbollah and Israel began on November 27.
In the two months from November 27 to Monday, Israel killed at least 83 people in Lebanon, according to data obtained from Lebanon’s Ministry of Public Health. At least 228 were also injured as displaced residents tried to return to villages where Israeli soldiers remain stationed.
Since the beginning of the conflict on October 8, 2023, to November 26, 2024, Israeli forces killed at least 3,961 people across Lebanon and injured at least 16,520.
Under the United States-brokered ceasefire, Israeli forces were to have withdrawn from southern Lebanon and Hezbollah was to have moved north of the Litani River, about 30km (20 miles) from the Lebanon-Israel border, by Sunday.
Israel was meant to “gradually withdraw” its forces from southern Lebanon in the 60 days after the ceasefire took effect and the Lebanese army was to deploy to the territory.
Once the Israeli military was out, peacekeepers with the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) were to enter, followed by the Lebanese armed forces (LAF).
Furthermore, the LAF is supposed to ensure that it is the only Lebanese armed presence in southern Lebanon.
Under the ceasefire, the Israeli army was supposed to withdraw from Lebanon at 02:00 GMT on Sunday.
However, Israel stated that its forces would remain in southern Lebanon past the deadline, accusing Hezbollah of not sufficiently pulling back from the border. Lebanon denied the claim and urged Israel to honour the deadline.
As displaced people tried to return to their homes on Sunday, at least 24 people were shot and killed.
The following day in the village of Aitaroun, scores of unarmed residents, some waving Hezbollah flags, marched hand in hand or rode motorcycles, escorted by ambulances, bulldozers and Lebanese army tanks. They approached the edge of the town but stopped short of Israeli positions, unable to enter.
“We are coming with our heads held high and crowned with victory to our village, Aitaroun,” Saleem Mrad, head of the municipality, told The Associated Press news agency. “Our village is ours, and we will bring it back more beautiful than it was before. We are staying.”
Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency (NNA) reported that Israel dropped a bomb at the entrance of the southern village of Yaroun to deter residents from proceeding farther.
