Israeli forces fired toward residents of southern Lebanon for a second consecutive day on Monday as people pressed on with attempts to return to their homes along the border, a day after at least two dozen people were killed and scores injured in Israeli attacks, Lebanese officials said.
The Israeli fire on Sunday was the deadliest eruption of violence in Lebanon since the war between Israel and Hezbollah, the Lebanese militia, ended with a truce in November. In the renewed violence on Monday, at least two people were killed and 17 others injured, according to Lebanon’s health ministry.
The Israeli military said in a statement that it had fired “warning shots in order to eliminate threats,” without providing further details about the nature of those threats.
Wire agency photos showed Israeli forces gathered behind makeshift roadblocks, with flattened southern Lebanese villages visible on the rolling hillsides behind them. Some detained men stood crouched alongside a dirt road, blindfolded and with their hands bound as Israeli soldiers stood watch.
The images showed Hezbollah flags on full display and crowds of men and women, in addition to the U.N. peacekeepers and Lebanese soldiers attempting to protect them. Television screens, however, have been flooded with the images of the dead.
The Israeli military said on Monday that it had redeployed in areas of southern Lebanon and repeated calls for Lebanese residents to wait for their approval before returning home. The Lebanese military had sent reinforcements to parts of southern Lebanon earlier in the day, preparing to enter some towns and safeguard civilians, Lebanon’s state-run news agency reported.
Israeli forces killed at least 24 people and injured over 134 others on Sunday, Lebanese officials said, after thousands of Lebanese marched to southern towns and villages. Those areas remain occupied by Israel past a 60-day deadline for its withdrawal under the November cease-fire agreement, which called for both Israel and Hezbollah forces to leave southern Lebanon and for the Lebanese Army and U.N. peacekeepers to deploy in force there.
The Israeli military said in a statement on Sunday that it had fired “warning shots” to disperse what it called “rioters.” Last week, Israel had indicated that it would remain in southern Lebanon despite the deadline, amid doubts about the Lebanese Army’s ability to stymie Hezbollah’s resurgence.
Negotiators had hoped that the U.S.-brokered cease-fire by now would have given way for a more permanent settlement. But as the 60-day deadline elapsed on Sunday, the White House issued a statement stating that the initial agreement would be extended until Feb. 18.
Hezbollah’s leader, Naim Qassem, said in a speech on Monday that the group did not accept the extension of the cease-fire agreement and called on Israeli forces to withdraw from Lebanon. However, Hezbollah is not a signatory to the deal, and the Lebanese government had already approved the extension following discussions with U.S. officials.
The flurry of diplomatic activity appeared designed to buy time and stave off further bouts of violence.
Mr. Qassem said his group reserved “the right to act as it sees fit” if Israel failed to withdraw from the country, but stopped short of delivering a direct threat during his speech on Monday.
Battered by the deadliest war with Israel in decades, the group has little impetus to reignite a conflict that would only weaken the group further as it attempts to recover, experts say. Instead, Mr. Qassem called on Lebanon’s new leaders to act, and said the international community would be responsible for “any consequences arising from the delay.”
During a meeting with U.S. officials on Monday, Lebanon’s caretaker prime minister, Najib Mikati, stressed that the extension did “not give Israel any excuse not to withdraw,” according to a statement from his office. He accused Israeli forces of “procrastinating” and said pressure was needed to stop their “repeated violations” of the truce deal.
The bloodshed on Sunday prompted urgent calls for restraint by the United Nations amid growing fears of a sustained Israeli occupation and renewed hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah.
Even as the cease-fire held, albeit precariously, in Lebanon, the Israeli military said it had “initiated a counterterrorism operation” in the city of Tulkarm in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
The military said its aircraft had killed Ihab Abu Atiwi, who was described as the head of the local branch of Hamas, and circulated images of a car being blown up. The Palestinian health ministry said an airstrike had killed two people and wounded three others.
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