Live: Thousands return home as Lebanon ceasefire takes hold
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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned of further attacks on Lebanon, suggesting the US has given Israel the green light for "complete freedom of military action" as needed.
عاجل | نتنياهو: بالتفاهم مع الولايات المتحدة نحافظ على حرية العمل العسكري كاملة وإذا انتهك #حزب_الله الاتفاق فسنهاجم
— الجزيرة - عاجل (@AJABreaking) November 26, 2024
The comments appear to flout the reported details of the impending ceasefire deal, in which both Israel and Hezbollah are meant to stand down from "offensive" actions.
Netanyahu also seems to indicate that this portion is specifically a US-Israeli agreement, which casts doubt on the longevity of a ceasefire with Hezbollah, should it indeed go into effect.
Israeli attacks on Lebanon have killed at least 3,823 people and wounded 15,859 others since 8 October 2023, the Lebanese health ministry said on Tuesday.
On Monday alone, 55 people were killed and 160 were injured in Israeli air strikes, officials announced.
Al-Arabiya is reporting details from the impending ceasefire announcement between Israel and Lebanon, chief among them being that neither Hezbollah nor Israel can conduct offensive operations against the other and that in southern Lebanon, only the Lebanese army can act in self-defence as needed.
Israel is reportedly set to withdraw its forces from the Blue Line buffer zone within 60 days, and the Lebanese Army will deploy to all border crossings surrounding southern Lebanon.
Furthermore, any unauthorised weapons facilities must be dismantled, and only the Lebanese Army can receive and coordinate weapons supplies.
• All military infrastructure and positions will be dismantled, all unauthorized weapons that do not comply with these obligations will be confiscated
— Joseph Haboush (@jhaboush) November 26, 2024
• Committee to be formed acceptable to Israel and Lebanon to oversee and assist in ensuring enforcement of these commitments
The Lebanese broadcaster Al-Jadeed has announced that Israel's cabinet has approved the ceasefire deal with Israel brokered by the US.
This comes after CBS News reported that the incoming administration of Donald Trump has also been briefed on the deal, and sees it as a positive agreement.
The news comes just ahead of what is typically the biggest holiday in the US: Thanksgiving. This time last year, a short-lived ceasefire in Gaza was secured just hours before the event.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Tuesday that "effective implementation" of UN resolution 1701, first established in 2006 to place peacekeepers along a border buffer zone, is "possible" between Israel and Lebanon. He added that the increased exchange of fire over the past few days underscores the urgency of that implementation and the ceasefire the resolution is intended to uphold.
On Gaza, Blinken told reporters he is prepared to work with President-elect Donald Trump's incoming administration over the next two months towards a ceasefire deal.
Hezbollah MP Amin Sherri said on Tuesday that no facilities belonging to the group had been hit by Israeli strikes carried out over the past several hours in the Lebanese capital, Beirut.
The Reuters news agency cites Al-Manar TV for the comments, which followed Israel's first-ever expulsion warnings for four locations within the city limits.
Israel orders further evacuations in central Beirut and other areas of Lebanon.
Apart from Beirut, Israel warned residents of Lebanon’s Tyre and Sidon that they would attack there in the “near future”.
“You are located near Hezbollah facilities and interests, against which the [Israeli military] will act forcefully in the near future,” Israeli army spokesperson Avichay Adraee said on X.
“For your safety and the safety of your family members, you must evacuate these buildings and those adjacent to them immediately and stay away from them for a distance of no less than 500 metres."
A Hezbollah MP has warned that Israel is seeking "revenge" with its attack on Lebanon, as discussions on a ceasefire were ongoing.
"The Israeli aggression on Beirut is only targeting civilians, and Israel wants to take revenge on all the resistance crowds," Amin Sheri said.
His comments came as Israel's cabinet began discussing a proposed ceasefire in Lebanon.
Israel said it struck around 30 targets belonging to Hezbollah in southern Lebanon since Tuesday morning.
The army said it hit a launcher used to fire projectiles at Israel the day before, as well as "weapons storage facilities, terrorist infrastructure sites, command centres, and additional launchers".
According to Reuters, Tuesday's strikes were the largest simultaneous attack so far across Beirut’s southern suburbs.
An agreement on a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon is "within reach", Germany's Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said on Tuesday.
"A ceasefire and steps towards a political solution along the lines of UN Resolution 1701 are within reach thanks to direct US and French mediation," Baerbock said on Tuesday on the sidelines of a G7 foreign ministers meeting in Italy.
An Israeli air strike on a school sheltering displaced Palestinian killed 11 people and wounded dozens more on Tuesday in the Zaytoun neighbourhood, south of Gaza City, according to Al Jazeera.
An explosion was heard in the Lebanese capital Beirut on Tuesday with smoke seen rising over central areas of the city, several news agencies have reported.
Since the onset of Israel's war on Gaza, western media coverage has been at the forefront of discussions.
Complaints have poured in from people and groups on all sides.
Recently, I published what may be the first empirical study on this topic in a major academic journal.
My quantitative content analysis, featured in Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, provides concrete, measurable evidence that mainstream western broadcast news outlets demonstrate significantly more sympathy towards Israeli victims and violence perpetrated by Israel than Palestinian victims and perpetrated violence.
The study analysed more than 400 Instagram (IG) posts, including still images, captions and videos from CNN, BBC News, Fox News, MSNBC and Sky News.
Several key variables were assessed, including sourcing, victim humanisation and dominant frame.
Based on past scholarly research, I anticipated finding coverage patterns that favoured Israeli narratives and positions. While these expectations were confirmed, the magnitude of the disparities was substantial and, in many ways, surprising.
Read more: How western media favours Israel on Instagram by Mohamad Elmasry
The Council of Ministers of Lebanon said it was set to convene on Wednesday morning.
According to Al Jazeera, the ministers are set to approve the proposed ceasefire with Israel in the meeting.
Jordanian military planes on Tuesday dropped aid to northern Gaza for first time in five months, an official source told Reuters .
Two C-130 planes belonging to the Jordanian air force dropped the cargo that contained nearly seven tonnes of food and essential relief to areas the UN agencies identified as most in need and facing hunger, the source added.
Reporting by Reuters
