BEIRUT: Lebanese official media said Israeli forces killed a woman in a southern border town on Sunday as residents sought to return home, two days ahead of an Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire deadline.
Lebanon’s army shortly later urged residents against heading to border areas where its forces had not completed deployment.
The official National News Agency (NNA) said that Israeli “occupation forces shot in the direction of Hula neighborhoods after residents entered, leading to the death of a woman and the wounding of other people.”
“Three citizens were kidnapped by Israeli forces in the town,” the NNA added, after earlier reporting that residents had entered by passing a Lebanese army checkpoint and “dirt barriers set up by the Israeli army.”
A fragile ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon’s Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah came into effect on November 27 after more than a year of hostilities including two months of all-out war.
Under the deal, Lebanon’s military was to deploy in the south alongside United Nations peacekeepers as the Israeli army withdrew over a 60-day period.
Hezbollah was also to pull back north of the Litani River — about 30 kilometers (20 miles) from the border — and dismantle any remaining military infrastructure in the south.
The withdrawal period was extended to February 18, after Israel missed the initial deadline.
Both sides have accused each other of violations.
When the initial ceasefire deadline expired in late January, Lebanese authorities said Israeli fire killed 26 people in two days as residents tried to return to border villages.
Lebanon’s army on X emphasized “the need for citizens not to head toward southern areas where the (Lebanese military) deployment has not been completed... in order to preserve their safety and avoid the death of innocent people.”
It pointed to “the danger of unexploded ordnance left by the Israeli enemy, as well as the possibility of the presence of enemy forces in those areas.”
This week, Israeli military spokesman Avichay Adraee on X again warned people against heading south, noting that the Israeli army “is still deployed on the ground.”
On Saturday, the NNA said an Israeli strike on a vehicle in the south’s Lebanon’s Iqlim Al-Tuffah area killed two people. The Israeli army said it targeted a senior militant from Hezbollah’s aerial unit.
On Thursday, a senior Israeli security official said the military was prepared to withdraw from Lebanese territory “within the timeline” set by the US-French-mediated ceasefire agreement.
The same day, Lebanon’s parliamentary speaker Nabih Berri said the United States had informed him that, while Israel would withdraw on February 18, “it will remain in five locations.”
Lebanese officials have rejected the demand.