Israel prevents return to dozens of villages in southern Lebanon

Israel's army has banned residents of several villages in southern Lebanon from returning home until further notice.

An Israeli military spokesman announced on X in Arabic that the military didn't want the villagers to be put in danger of being targetted.

He listed more than 60 villages near the Israeli border that are part of a restricted area which Lebanese people are currently not allowed to enter.

The painstakingly negotiated ceasefire agreement includes a provision that Hezbollah withdraw to the Litani River, about 30 kilometres north of the Israeli-Lebanese border, in accordance with a UN resolution.

The locations in the restricted zone are all on or south of the Litani River. Until this morning, access to the entire area south of the river had been prohibited for 14 hours. Now, access is no longer prohibited to all places there.

Israel's ground troops are to withdraw from Lebanon step by step within 60 days. However, the army says it is currently still operating in the south of the neighbouring country to take action against violations of the ceasefire agreement.

The intense reciprocal attacks between Hezbollah and Israel ended at the beginning of the ceasefire on Wednesday morning. However, there are still isolated incidents.

Thousands of displaced Lebanese had set out for their home towns in the south after the beginning of the ceasefire.