Israeli forces occupying south Lebanon kill 15 as tens of thousands return to claim their land

Israeli soldiers opened fire on crowds of displaced Lebanese on Sunday, as residents began to return to their towns and villages in the country’s southeast, which mark the frontier of a tenuous ceasefire agreement originally due to end today.

The attacks killed 15 people and injured over 80 more, the Lebanese Health Ministry said in a Sunday afternoon statement. 

Those targeted were among tens of thousands of civilians coming face-to-face with Israeli forces still occupying Lebanese land on Sunday amid an impasse in the agreement that Israel and the United States have sought to extend.

Doctor Moanes Kalakash, director of the Marjayoun Government Hospital, told Mada Masr that some of those injured were admitted to his facility, most with minor to moderate bullet wounds to their legs or feet. He said that the situation was still developing and injured people were still being admitted to the facility, which was treating them despite its limited resources.

Ali Aliq, a resident of Markaba, was among those displaced from their homes by months of Israeli aggression and who were preparing for the long-awaited return on Sunday.

Aliq told Mada Masr that he and his companions had to surmount earthen barriers on the road and leave their cars behind to reach their village this morning, as they were instructed by the Lebanese military not to drive into the area.

As they were approaching Markaba, said Aliq, Israeli forces opened fire on them, injuring two people.

Two security sources speaking to Mada Masr on Sunday morning estimated that there were tens of thousands of people present on the roads waiting to enter villages south of the Litani River, where Israeli forces have been stationed since November conducting explosions to demolish houses that they claim are located above Hezbollah infrastructure.

While the Lebanese military has taken over security control of most of the country’s southwest, as per the terms of the ceasefire, Israeli troops are still stationed in a substantial part of the southeast.

According to a Lebanese military source who spoke to Mada Masr on condition of anonymity on Saturday, the occupying troops remain stationed at towns and villages stretching from the outskirts of Khiam to Bint Jbeil — a 40-kilometer stretch of land in Lebanon that includes raised ground overlooking the Golan Heights and settlements in northern Israel.

The Lebanese military said it was accompanying residents returning to areas in the southeast amid Israel’s “persistence in violating Lebanon’s sovereignty and its attacks on citizens” and “its refusal to abide by the ceasefire agreement and withdraw from the Lebanese territories it occupied.”

But the military and Lebanon’s new president also called on residents across the south to exercise caution and restraint, warning that returning to could expose them to danger from unexploded ordnance. Images circulating on social media showed dozens of residents gathering around different towns in the south, asking Lebanese soldiers to allow them to pass to inspect their properties or search for missing family members.

The hundreds of thousands of people displaced from south Lebanon have been waiting to return since November, when Israel and Lebanon signed a ceasefire deal that laid out conditions for 60 days leading to a permanent state of ceasefire beginning on January 26.

Over the period, Hezbollah was due to withdraw its forces and arms north of the Litani, while Israel would withdraw its forces from south Lebanon. The Lebanese military and United Nations peacekeeping forces were to deploy south of the Litani instead. 

Yet Israel has remained present in the south, continuing to launch fire at people approaching and wreaking widespread destruction, leaving the vast majority of the area uninhabitable.

Just two days before the 60-day deadline, Israel announced that it did not intend to withdraw its troops as agreed, claiming the Lebanese state was yet to enforce the terms of the ceasefire. The White House called for “a short, temporary” extension the following day.

Lebanon, however, has not accepted an extension, with the Cabinet calling on Sunday for “the countries that sponsored the ceasefire understanding to assume their responsibilities in deterring the aggression and forcing the Israeli enemy to withdraw from the lands it occupies.”

France, an official mediator and a member of the committee overseeing the deal’s implementation, is yet to comment.

The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, meanwhile, released a statement on Sunday morning stating that the ceasefire deal’s timeline had not been met, urging both Lebanon and Israel to recommit to implementing the agreement.

MP Ali Fayyad, a member of the Amal Movement bloc allied with Hezbollah, was present in the south on Sunday to meet residents returning to Kafr Kila.

Fayyad told Mada Masr that he believes the Israelis don’t want a ceasefire because they fear the public’s return and the resistance, which will continue to oppose the occupation.

If Israeli forces do not withdraw, said Fayyad, we will have no choice but to return to armed resistance. However, he called on Lebanon’s politicians to reach out to the international community to intervene to restore the ceasefire.