Lebanon reports casualties as ceasefire deadline with Israel expires
Tensions erupted in southern Lebanon on Sunday after the deadline expired for Israeli troops to withdraw as part of a ceasefire deal reached between Israel and the Iranian-allied Lebanese Hezbollah movement.
Three people were killed and 31 injured in Israeli attacks in southern Lebanon as people attempted to return to their towns there, the Lebanese Ministry of Health said.
People have gathered since the early hours of Sunday trying to return to their towns and villages in the border area of southern Lebanon, the official Lebanese National News Agency (NNA) said.
The Israeli military has warned residents against returning to the area and accused Hezbollah of inciting tensions.
Online images purportedly showed people crossing a barbed wire fence and entering the southern town of Kfar Kila carrying pictures and the Hezbollah banner.
The Israeli army captured two people in the southern town of Houla after they had entered it, the Lebanese television station LBC reported.
Footage circulating online showed a convoy of cars attempting to enter the southern town of Ayta al-Shaab despite the Israeli army warning that it is still deployed in the area.
Some locals sounded resolute about returning to their towns in the region against the odds.
"We are determined to enter our villages, whatever the cost may be," Fatma, a woman from the southern town of Mais al-Jabal, told dpa as she was trekking towards her home town.
"We are here as civilians and not as armed people. We are the people of the land," Mohammed, a male native of the southern town of Maroun al-Ras, said.
People were seen entering Maroun al-Ras and standing facing the nearby Israelis tanks, witnessed said.
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