Middle East latest: Displaced people return to south Lebanon as ceasefire appears to hold

At least 42 people were killed by Israeli strikes across Lebanon on Tuesday, according to local authorities. Hezbollah also fired rockets into Israel on Tuesday, triggering air raid sirens in the country’s north.

The Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire marks the first major step toward ending the regionwide unrest triggered by Hamas' attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, but it does not address the devastating war in Gaza.

Hezbollah began attacking Israel a day after Hamas’ attack. The fighting in Lebanon escalated into all-out war in September with massive Israeli airstrikes across the country and an Israeli ground invasion of the south.

In Gaza, more than 44,000 people have been killed and more than 104,000 wounded in the nearly 14-month war between Israel and Hamas, according to Gaza's Health Ministry.

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Lebanese army says it's moving troops into the country's south as part of ceasefire plan

BEIRUT — The Lebanese army said it was moving additional troops into the country's south on Wednesday to extend state authority in coordination with the U.N. peacekeeping mission there.

“The concerned military units are moving from several areas to the South Litani Sector, where they will be stationed in the locations designated for them,” the Lebanese military said in its first statement since the Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire went into effect.

Under the ceasefire deal, Israeli troops would pull out of Lebanon and Hezbollah is required to move its forces north of the Litani River, which in some places is about 30 kilometers (20 miles) north of the border.

Thousands of additional Lebanese troops and U.N. peacekeepers would deploy in the south, and an international panel headed by the United States would monitor compliance.

The Lebanese army has largely stood on the sidelines during the latest war between Israel and Hezbollah, although dozens of its soldiers have been killed amid the fighting.

Lebanese families and politicians visits graves of Hezbollah fighters

BAALBEK, Lebanon — Beside the graves of Hezbollah fighters in eastern Lebanon's Baalbek region, families with tears in their eyes paid respects to the dead and celebratory gunshots could be heard in the background Wednesday, the first day of a ceasefire between the militant group and Israel.

“The resistance (Hezbollah) will stay to defend Lebanon,” Hezbollah lawmaker Ali Mokdad told reporters while visiting the graves. “We tell the enemy that the martyrs thwarted their plans for the Middle East.”

Several other Hezbollah members of parliament were present. In addition to being an armed group, Hezbollah is also a political party and provides extensive social services.

Children among 11 killed in Israeli strikes in Gaza, officials say

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — Israeli strikes on two schools-turned-shelters in Gaza City killed 11 people, including four children, hospital officials said.

One strike hit the Tabeen School, killing nine, and another targeted Al-Hureyah School, leaving two dead. Both were sheltering hundreds of displaced people.

The Israeli military said it struck Mumin Al-Jabari, a senior fighter with Hamas’ sniper unit. It said he had operated in a room inside the Tabeen School, without providing evidence. The military had no immediate comment on claims that it struck the second school.

The military said Al-Jabari carried out attacks against Israeli troops in Gaza and had stored weapons in the room he was operating from.

At Al-Ahli Hospital, Saeed Abu Salah, who sought shelter in Tabeen School, said the airstrike killed his daughter and granddaughter. He had already lost four of his children since the war began on Oct. 7, 2023, including two whose bodies were still under rubble.

“For the millionth time, the Israeli occupation commits crimes against innocent civilians,” he said. Abu Salah held his granddaughter wrapped in a white shroud, while a crying mother nearby held the body of her dead child in her arms.

Associated Press footage on Wednesday showed the collapsed roof at the Tabeen School. Dozens gathered outside, some using equipment and bare hands to pull out bodies from under the rubble. One man carried a dead child covered in a blanket.

The Israeli military said the strike on the Al-Hureyah School targeted Hamas militants hiding among civilians, without providing evidence.

Aid groups welcome ceasefire and urge donors to step up

BEIRUT — International aid groups welcomed the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hezbollah and urge donors to provide funding to help rebuild parts of Lebanon and assist the displaced.

The aid groups are concerned about the aftershocks of the war on Lebanon’s already struggling economy. With more than 1.2 million people displaced, they warned that the damage would leave many struggling and without homes.

More than 100,000 homes have been either partially or fully destroyed across southern Lebanon, Bekaa and Beirut, the International Rescue Committee said.

Mercy Corps said that half of Lebanon’s population now lives below the poverty line. It called on donors to fulfill pledges to support immediate humanitarian efforts and the long-term recovery.

“There will undoubtedly be a great deal of grief and trauma. Many will have no homes to return to, no schools for their children, and livelihoods destroyed,” Norwegian Refugee Council Secretary-General Jan Egeland said.

Lebanese who fled to Syria start returning home

MASNAA BORDER CROSSING — Among the Lebanese hoping to return home following a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah are thousands who had fled the war to Syria.

Families with hastily packed belongings on Wednesday crossed under heavy rain from Syria into eastern Lebanon. The road, heavily damaged by Israeli airstrikes, is under repair.

Mariam Mawla, from Bazouria in southern Lebanon, was thrilled to be returning home after two months in Syrian capital Damascus. As she waited in traffic at the crossing, she told The Associated Press that she hoped to find her house intact.

“I heard that there might be some damage, but no matter what, we thank God that we are returning home,” Mawla said.

France will work with Netanyahu despite an arrest warrant

PARIS — France says it “intends to continue to work in close collaboration” with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu despite the arrest warrant issued for him by the world’s top war-crimes court.

Since the International Criminal Court issued warrants last week, French officials have replied vaguely to questions about whether France would arrest Netanyahu should he visit the country.

Prime Minister Michel Barnier told parliament this week that France would “rigorously” respect its obligations according to international law. The position was echoed by France’s foreign minister in a broadcast interview Wednesday morning.

But in a subsequent statement, the French Foreign Ministry argued that Netanyahu and others affected by the court warrants benefit from immunity because Israel is not a member of the court. It said this would be “taken into consideration if the ICC was to ask us for their arrest and handing over.”

The statement cited “the historic friendship that links France and Israel” and described them as “two democracies committed to the rule of law and respect for professional and independent justice.”

Fighting rages in Gaza as ceasefire takes hold in Lebanon

TEL AVIV, Israel — As a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah appears to hold in Lebanon, fighting raged on in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday.

The Gaza Health Ministry said 33 bodies had been brought to hospitals over the past 24 hours, raising the death toll in the nearly 14-month-long war to 44,282. The Health Ministry does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its count but says more than half of the dead are women and children.

The Israeli military said it struck dozens of Hamas sites in hard-hit northern Gaza, including weapons storage facilities and military structures. It said it warned civilians to evacuate the area beforehand. The military has battled for weeks a resurgence of Hamas in the area, which was an early target of Israel’s offensive.

The Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire has no direct bearing on the conflict in Gaza, where international mediators have struggled to secure a truce.

Israeli forces will only gradually withdraw from Lebanon, official says

JERUSALEM — An Israeli security official says Israeli forces remain in their positions hours after a ceasefire took place and will only gradually withdraw from southern Lebanon.

The official, speaking Wednesday on condition of anonymity under military briefing rules, would not say when troops would begin the withdrawal but said it would be completed during the 60-day period laid out in the ceasefire agreement.

He said the pace of the withdrawal and the scheduled return of Lebanese civilians to their homes would depend on whether the deal is implemented and enforced by all sides.

“We need to see the mechanism is working,” he said. “It’s a gradual agreement. It’s a gradual withdrawal.”

The official said Israeli soldiers were responding to an immediate threat when they opened fire earlier Wednesday at several vehicles approaching a restricted area in Lebanon. There were no reports on casualties. The official said that Israel was prepared to do so again if troops were at risk.

“We will fire when our forces are threatened,” he said. He said non-immediate threats would be reported to the international monitoring committee, but that if no action is taken, “we will enforce it.”

— By Josef Federman

Hamas ready to cooperate in efforts to bring about ceasefire in Gaza

CAIRO — Hamas says it’s ready to cooperate with any effort to bring about a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, after Israel and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah reached a truce to end months of fighting.

The deal does not address the war in Gaza. International mediators have repeatedly failed to bring Israel and Hamas to a deal that would end the brutal, 13-month-long war.

In a statement, Hamas repeated it would seek the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza, the return of displaced Palestinians and a “real and complete prisoner exchange deal.”

Israel has refused to commit to ending the war under any ceasefire deal and some members of the Israeli government have balked over freeing large number of Palestinian prisoners in exchange for the roughly 100 hostages still held by militants in Gaza.

President Joe Biden said Tuesday he hoped for a renewed international push for negotiations in coming days.

Lebanon’s caretaker government approves Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire

BEIRUT — Lebanon’s caretaker government on Wednesday approved a U.S.-brokered ceasefire between the militant Hezbollah group and Israel.

The move was largely a formality but also signaled the government’s commitment to its part in the deal, including deploying Lebanese soldiers along the border with Israel and cooperating with United Nations peacekeepers.

“Today is a new day, where we hope it carries with it peace and stability,” caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati said in a statement following the morning meeting.

The agreement is an implementation plan for U.N. Security Council resolution 1701, which was passed in 2006 to end the last Israel-Hezbollah war but never was fully carried out. Its goal was for the Lebanese military to be the exclusive armed presence in southern Lebanon alongside U.N. peacekeepers, and for Hezbollah and Israeli forces to withdraw from the area.

According to a copy of the ceasefire agreement provided by the Lebanese government, the Lebanese military would gradually deploy in the south and dismantle unauthorized military infrastructure and weapons production facilities.

The United States and France, in addition to UNIFIL peacekeepers, will monitor violations and support the process.

German chancellor expresses relief over ceasefire in Lebanon

BERLIN — German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has expressed relief over the Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire and called on both sides to stick to the agreement.

“Finally, Hezbollah and Israel have agreed on a ceasefire in Lebanon, brokered by our partners USA and France,” Scholz wrote Wednesday on X.

“It is important that everyone sticks to what has been agreed, so that people on both sides of the border can live in safety again.”

Germany is a staunch ally of Israel, but at the same time home to a Lebanese immigrant community of more than 100,000.

Lebanese politician who helped broker ceasefire calls for effort to fill the country’s presidency

BEIRUT — The speaker of Lebanon’s parliament called for another effort to fill the country’s long-vacant presidency just hours after a ceasefire to halt hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel went into effect.

Lebanon has been without a president since October 2022, as its deeply divided parliament has been unable to elect a new head of state. The last effort to elect a president was more than a year ago.

Speaker Nabih Berri called for political parties to come together to elect a president “who unites rather than divides.”

“I call upon you because a moment of truth in which we must unite for the sake of Lebanon has arrived,” Berri said in a televised address.

“This is a test for how we can save Lebanon. How we can build it and how we can bring back life for its constitutional institutions.”

The war compounded Lebanon’s economic troubles and worsened tensions between political groups allied and opposed to Hezbollah.

Berri spearheaded Lebanon’s negotiation efforts for a U.S.-brokered ceasefire to end the war between Israel and Hezbollah. He’s a top Shiite politician and a key ally of Hezbollah.

Iran-backed Iraqi militia vows to continue fighting Israel

BAGHDAD — One of the most powerful Iran-backed factions in Iraq said it would continue its operations in support of Gaza despite the Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire.

Iraqi militias have repeatedly launched attacks on Israel from Iraq in the nearly 14 months since the Israel-Hamas war broke out.

In a statement, the Kataib Hezbollah group said that the ceasefire would not have been possible without the “resilience of Hezbollah fighters and the failure of the Zionists to achieve their objectives, making the decision solely Lebanese.”

The group said that a pause by one member of the so-called Axis of Resistance, which includes Iran-backed groups from Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, and Yemen, would not undermine the broader “unity of fronts” strategy.

The militia also said the U.S. had been Israel’s partner “in all acts of betrayal, killing, destruction and displacement,” and said it “will eventually have to pay for its actions.”

A Lebanese man who's lived through multiple wars says this one has been the worst

TYRE, Lebanon — Mohammed Kaafarani has lived through multiple conflicts with Israel. But he says the past two months were the worst of them all.

“They were a nasty and ugly 60 days,” said Kaafarani, 59, who was displaced from the Lebanese village of Bidias, near the southern port city of Tyre.

Thousands of displaced people poured into the city Wednesday after a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah went into effect.

Kaafarani said the latest war was the most difficult because the bombardment was so intense. “We reached a point where there was no place to hide. Even buildings were destroyed.”

He said Tyre was left almost empty as most of its residents fled.

Kaafarani said he hopes his children and grandchildren will have a better future without wars because “our generation suffered and is still suffering.”

“The last two months were way too long,” said Kaafarani, whose home was badly damaged in the fighting. He vowed to fix it and continue on with life.

Some people displaced from northern Israeli towns say they still don’t feel safe enough to return

HAIFA, Israel — Some people in Israel who have been displaced by fighting with the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah say the ceasefire deal doesn’t make them feel secure enough to go home.

Some 50,000 people have been displaced from a string of cities, towns and villages along Israel’s northern border with Lebanon. Those communities have been pummeled by Hezbollah rocket and drone fire for 13 months, with dozens of houses damaged and in need of rebuilding or rehabilitation.

Noy Friedman, who was displaced from the town of Shlomi to the city of Haifa, said she wouldn’t feel safe in her hometown.

“I am also not ready for my family to return to Shlomi,” said Friedman.

Many displaced Israelis have been living in hotels since the fighting began in Oct. 2023 or have tried to reestablish their lives in new areas far from the fighting.

Returning could take months because of the damage caused to the communities, but also because of the fears many of the displaced still feel.

On a cold, rainy Wednesday morning, the hard-hit Israeli town of Kiryat Shmona was quiet. A handful of people milled about, inspecting damage from rocket attacks, including to the roof of a bus.

The town’s shopping mall, which had been hit before, appeared to have new damage. A rocket was seen stuck in the ground next to an apartment building.

“I am against the ceasefire,” said Eliyahu Maman, a Kiryat Shmona resident displaced to Haifa who feared Hezbollah could still attack from southern Lebanon. “I am not ready to return to Kiryat Shmona.”

Jordan says ceasefire is ‘an important step’

AMMAN, Jordan — Jordan on Wednesday welcomed the ceasefire between Israel and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, saying it should be followed by an international effort to wind down the war in Gaza.

In a statement, Jordan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs called the ceasefire “an important step.” But it said “Israeli aggression on Gaza” must be stopped.

Jordan expressed support for Lebanon and stressed the importance of fully implementing the ceasefire.

Jordan is a close Western ally that made peace with Israel in 1994. But Israel’s devastating offensive in the Gaza Strip, launched after Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 attack, has strained relations. The country has a large Palestinian population which has demonstrated regularly against the war in Gaza.

Gaza residents hope for ceasefire after nearly 14 months of grueling war

KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip — Palestinians said Wednesday they hoped there would be a ceasefire in Gaza now that Israel and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah agreed to a truce.

But some feared that Israel would be more heavy handed with Gaza now that its forces were freed up from the fighting against Hezbollah.

“The situation will be worse, because the pressure will be more on Gaza,” said Mamdouh Yonis, a man currently living in Khan Younis after being displaced from the southern city of Rafah, told The Associated Press.

Palestinians in Gaza are desperately waiting for a ceasefire agreement that would end the war between Hamas and Israel. It’s already killed over 44,000 people according to local authorities, who don’t distinguish between combatants and civilians in their count.

The war was sparked when Hamas raided southern Israel in Oct. 2023, killing 1,200 and kidnapping 250, about 100 of whom remain in Gaza.

International mediation efforts meant to clinch a deal have faltered repeatedly, and the war is now in its 14th month with no end in sight.

“They agree to a ceasefire in one place and not in the other? Have mercy on the children, the elderly and the women. We are sitting in tents and now it is winter,” said Ahlam Abu Shalabi, a woman displaced from Gaza City.

Turkey welcomes ceasefire in Lebanon

ANKARA, Turkey — Turkey welcomed the ceasefire reached between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon, expressing hope that it would lead to a lasting truce.

In a statement issued Wednesday, Turkey’s Foreign Ministry also called on the international community to exert pressure on Israel to force it to “strictly comply with the ceasefire and compensate for the damage it has caused in Lebanon.”

The ministry also urged the establishment of “permanent and comprehensive” ceasefire in Gaza, calling on Israel to “end its aggressive policies.”

Israeli military says it fired at cars in Lebanon after they approached restricted area

TEL AVIV, Israel — The Israeli military said Wednesday that its forces opened fire in Lebanon on a number of cars that approached an area it said was restricted, as a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah appeared to take hold.

The military said the vehicles drove away. It was not immediately clear if there were any injuries as a result.

The Israeli military has warned residents of previously evacuated areas of Lebanon that had been evacuated, but displaced people have been streaming south to their homes.

The military said soldiers remained in position in southern Lebanon and that the air force was ready to act if needed. It said Israel’s aerial defense array was also at the ready for any ceasefire violations.

France highlights its role in brokering the deal

PARIS — France’s foreign minister underlined his country’s role in brokering an agreement that ended fighting between Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah militant group alongside the U.S., saying the deal wouldn’t have been possible without France’s special relationship with its former protectorate.

“It’s a success for French diplomacy and we can be proud,” said the minister, Jean-Noël Barrot, speaking hours after the ceasefire went into effect Wednesday.

“It is true that the United States have a privileged relationship with Israel. But with Lebanon, it’s France that has very old ties, very close ties,” the minister added. “It would not have been possible to envisage a ceasefire in Lebanon without France being involved on the front line.”

France will be involved in monitoring the ceasefire, Barrot noted, with 700 French soldiers deployed as part of the 10,000-strong United Nations peacekeeping force, known as UNIFIL, that has been patrolling the border area between Lebanon and Israel for nearly 50 years.

The minister said France will also work to strengthen Lebanese troops that will deploy in the south of the country as part of the ceasefire, although he didn’t specify what that might include.

Lebanese military warns people returning homes in south Lebanon to wait for Israeli troops to leave

BEIRUT — The Lebanese military asked displaced people returning to southern Lebanon to avoid frontline villages and towns near the border where the Israeli military is still present until the troops withdraw.

Thousands of people have been returning to other previously evacuated areas in south Lebanon in defiance of an Israeli warning to avoid all previously evacuated areas. Many of those areas were hit by strikes just hours before the ceasefire took effect.

Iran welcomes ceasefire

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Iran welcomed the ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah, Tehran's main militant partner in the Mideast.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei praised the ceasefire in a statement Wednesday morning.

Baghaei said that Iran still sought a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip. But like Hezbollah, it's dropped the demand that a ceasefire also take place at the same time in the Gaza Strip.

He also called for the International Criminal Court to try the “criminals of the occupying regime,” referring to Israel. The ICC has issued arrest warrants for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israel’s former defense minister.

Celebrations and relief as displaced people return to Tyre

TYRE, Lebanon — Displaced people started returning to the coastal city of Tyre on motorcycles and in cars early Wednesday, defying an Israeli military warning to stay away from previously evacuated areas.

Ahmad Husseini said returning to southern Lebanon was an “indescribable feeling” and praised Speaker of Parliament Nabih Berri, who led Lebanon’s negotiations with Washington. “He made us and everyone proud.”

Husseini, who earlier fled a town near the coastal city, spoke to The Associated Press while in his car with family members.

Meanwhile, sporadic celebratory gunfire could be heard at a main roundabout in the city, as people returning honked the horns of cars — some piled with mattresses — and residents cheered.

A couple of men shouted slogans praising slain Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, who was killed in an Israeli airstrike in September.

Hussein Sweidan said he sees the ceasefire as a victory for Hezbollah. “This is a moment of victory, pride and honor for us, the Shia sect, and for all of Lebanon,” he said.

Smoke rises over Beirut from overnight strikes

BEIRUT — As dawn broke in Beirut, plumes of smoke were visible rising from places hit by Israeli strikes before the ceasefire took effect at 4 a.m. Residents of Lebanon’s capital and its southern suburbs endured the most intense day of strikes since the war began on Tuesday.

Lebanon sees quiet, but recovery could be slow

BEIRUT — As the ceasefire went into effect early Wednesday, much of Lebanon was quiet for the first time since late September, following weeks of intense overnight strikes in southern and eastern Lebanon.

Some celebratory gunshots could be heard in parts of Beirut’s southern suburbs, battered over the past two months.

Israel’s Arabic military spokesperson Avichay Adraee has warned displaced Lebanese not to return to their villages in southern Lebanon, but some videos circulating on social media show displaced Lebanese defying these calls and returning to villages in the south near the coastal city of Tyre.

Israeli troops are still present in parts of southern Lebanon after Israel launched a ground invasion in October.

Lebanese have also been displaced from other parts of the country, notably the southern Beirut suburbs and the eastern Bekaa province. It’s unclear how long it will take cash-strapped Lebanon to rebuild these bombarded neighborhoods.

The war has displaced some 1.2 million people, according to the Lebanese government.

Israeli military says its evacuation orders in south Lebanon are in still in effect

JERUSALEM — As the ceasefire took effect early Wednesday, Israel’s military warned people with homes in areas of south Lebanon that it ordered evacuated to stay away for now.

Israeli military spokesman Col. Avichay Adraee issued the warning on the social platform X.

“You are prohibited from heading towards the villages that the IDF has ordered to be evacuated or towards IDF forces in the area,” Adraee wrote, using an acronym for the Israeli military. “For your safety and the safety of your family members, refrain from moving to the area.”

There were no immediate signs of renewed fighting as the ceasefire took hold early Wednesday morning.

Ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon begins

The ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah militants has begun as a region on edge wonders whether it will hold.

The ceasefire announced Tuesday is a major step toward ending nearly 14 months of fighting sparked by the ongoing war in Gaza between Israel and Hamas.

Israel has said it will attack if Hezbollah breaks the ceasefire agreement.

The ceasefire calls for an initial two-month halt to fighting and requires Hezbollah to end its armed presence in southern Lebanon, while Israeli troops are to return to their side of the border. An international panel led by the United States will monitor compliance.

The ceasefire began at 4 a.m. Wednesday, a day after Israel carried out its most intense wave of airstrikes in Beirut since the start of the conflict that in recent weeks turned into all-out war.

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