Israel kills at least 15 in south Lebanon on day army was due to withdraw

According to health officials, Israeli forces killed at least 15 people in southern Lebanon on the day they were supposed to withdraw under a ceasefire agreement. The Lebanese Ministry of Public Health stated on Sunday that Israeli forces opened fire as people attempted to return to their homes, also injuring at least 83 others.

A statement from the Lebanese military indicated that one of the deceased was a Lebanese soldier. This followed a statement on Sunday by Israeli military spokesperson Avichay Adraee, advising residents of more than 60 villages in southern Lebanon not to return. The Israeli attacks violated the ceasefire agreement reached in November, which stipulated that Israeli forces were to withdraw from Lebanon by 02:00 GMT on Sunday.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu blamed Lebanon for the delay in withdrawal, claiming that Hezbollah had not adequately retreated from the border area. Lebanon denied this claim and urged Israel to adhere to the deadline. Al Jazeera's Zeina Khodr, reporting from Borj el-Mlouk in southern Lebanon, stated that the Israeli military claimed they needed to stay longer because Lebanese forces had failed to fulfill their duty of ensuring Hezbollah's disarmament and the dismantling of its military infrastructure.

Khodr stated, "Israeli officials are saying there aren't enough Lebanese troops on the ground, and they claim that Hezbollah is still here. There is no independent confirmation at the moment regarding these claims." She added, "The people here have been displaced for over a year. They believe the Israeli forces should withdraw according to the ceasefire agreement. The 60-day deadline has passed." Under the ceasefire agreement, Lebanese forces were to deploy in the south alongside UN peacekeepers when Israeli forces withdrew from the area within 60 days.

Hezbollah agreed to withdraw its forces north of the Litani River, about 30 kilometers (19 miles) from the border, and to dismantle any remaining military infrastructure in the south. This agreement, brokered by the United States and France in November, ended more than a year of fighting sparked by Israel's war on Gaza. Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri said in a statement that Sunday's bloodshed "constitutes a clear and urgent call to the international community to take immediate action to force Israel to withdraw from the occupied Lebanese territories." Berri had served as a mediator between the group and the US during the ceasefire negotiations.

Meanwhile, the UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon and the head of the UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) issued a joint statement, saying that the conditions for the safe return of Lebanese citizens to southern Lebanon "are not yet in place." They stated that the timeline set out in the ceasefire agreement had not been met and urged both Israel and Lebanon to recommit. Al Jazeera’s Khodr said, “People are frustrated, they say the Lebanese army cannot protect us; it is just standing in the middle.”