Live: Thousands return home as Lebanon ceasefire takes hold
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Israeli strikes on Lebanon have killed at least 3,768 people and wounded 15,699 more since October 2023, the Lebanese health ministry said on Monday.
The death toll comes as Israel pounded Lebanon and Hezbollah fired hundreds of projectiles into Israel on Monday.
The escalation is taking place amid reports that Israel and Hezbollah are inching close to a ceasefire.
The UN's senior envoy to the security council, Muhannad Hadi, called on all parties involved in the conflict to "accept a ceasefire".
"The situation remains grave across the region," Hadi told the Security Council on behalf of UN Middle East envoy Tor Wennesland.
"I welcome the ongoing diplomatic efforts to reach a cessation of hostilities and urge the parties to accept a ceasefire anchored in the full implementation of UNSCR 1701," Hadi added.
The United Kingdom's representative to the United Nations warned on Monday about Israel's furious expansion of settlements in the occupied West Bank.
The UK's representative to the UN said that Israel's expansion of settlements is "unprecedented" and "undermines" the prospects for a peace deal to the Israel-Palestine conflict.
The price of oil, a key metric for geopolitical risk, has sunk three percent amid reports that Israel and Hezbollah are inching closer to a ceasefire in Lebanon.
Brent crude was trading down 2.83 percent on Monday to $72.52 per barrel amid reports that Israel and Hezbollah are nearing a ceasefire.
The risk that fighting in Lebanon could spiral into a full war between Israel and oil-rich Iran has kept oil markets on edge, although prices are relatively low.
The UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon (Unifil) condemned on Monday Israel's strikes on Lebanese army posts.
"Unifil is seriously concerned by numerous strikes on the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) inside the Lebanese territories, despite their declared non-involvement in the ongoing hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel," Unifil said on X.
Unifil cited the LAF's casualty toll, noting that Israeli strikes have killed 45 Lebanese soldiers.
"[The] LAF’s role remains vital for the full implementation of Resolution 1701 (2006), which is essential to ending the ongoing violence between Hezbollah and Israel," Unfiil said.
Israel's military said it hit four Hezbollah command centres in Beirut's southern suburb of Dahiyeh.
Israel has ramped up its air strikes on Beirut amid reports it could enter a ceasefire with Hezbollah.
Lebanon's health ministry has said that the death toll from two Israeli strikes on towns in Lebanon's Tyre district has risen from 12 to 15.
The number of casualties from the strike in Maaraka rose to nine, while another attack on the city of Tyre left “six dead and body parts.”
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said on Monday that the momentum on Lebanon ceasefire talks seems to have picked up and they were now closer than they were a few days or weeks ago.
"We are currently discussing with our partners from the Gulf states and the Arab world how we can, in this situation, at least perhaps resolve one of the major challenges, the situation in Lebanon, and finally achieve a ceasefire," she said on the sidelines of a G7 meeting in Italy.
"The momentum now seems to be closer than it was a few days or even a few weeks ago."
Reporting by Reuters
Lebanon's deputy speaker of parliament, Elias Bou Saab, told Reuters on Monday that there were "no serious obstacles" left to beginning the implementation of a US-proposed 60-day truce to end fighting between Israel and Hezbollah.
He said one sticking point on who would monitor the ceasefire had been resolved in the last 24 hours by agreeing to set up a five-country committee, including France and chaired by the United States.
A Lebanese official and western diplomat told Reuters that the US had informed Lebanese officials a ceasefire could be announced "within hours".
Reporting by Reuters
A senior Israeli official has confirmed to Reuters that the Israeli cabinet will convene on Tuesday to discuss approving a ceasefire with Lebanon, following a report by Israel's channel 12.
The announcement follows another report by U.S. news website Axios that Israel and Lebanon have agreed to the terms of a deal to end hostilities.
Israel's ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon, said of a ceasefire: "We haven't finalised it yet, but we are moving forward." Asked for comment, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said it had nothing to say about the report.
Reporting by Reuters
Eight people have been killed in two Israeli strikes on the eastern Lebanese village of al-Nabi Shayth in the Beqaa Valley and Baalbek District, the country's National News Agency is reporting.
According to the report, the strikes targeted a house used to distribute aid to the displaced.
Israeli forces have arrested over 435 women from across the West Bank since Israel's war on Gaza began on 7 October 2023, the Palestinian Prisoners Society (PPS) is reporting.
The group said in a report that there are no clear estimates for the number of women detained from Gaza.
Currently, Israel is holding 94 Palestinian women in custody, among them 33 mothers, 24 students, six journalists and two lawyers.
"Palestinian women are facing the bloodiest phase in the history of the conflict with the occupation," PPS said in a statement, adding that they faced "unprecedent crimes and violations," including an escalation in detentions and sexual assault.
Lebanon's Health Ministry is reporting that 12 people have been killed in an Israeli strike targeting two locations in southern Lebanon's Tyre district.
According to the ministry, one attack on a road near Tyre city left "six dead and body parts," as well as four wounded.
Meanwhile another strike in the town of Maaraka killed six people and wounded four others.
The UN agency for Palestinian refugees (Unrwa) has shared a video showing how displaced families in Gaza City are attempting to shelter from the worsening wintry weather in a bombed out school.
The footage showed how families have "piece walls together with bits of cloth" in an attempt to keep out the wind and the rain.
In a post on X, the agency said there is "no where safe to shelter" in the city.
"Rain is pouring down and they need everything, including clothes, shoes, blankets and mattresses, as the cold is settling in. This desperate situation must end," the agency said.
In #Gaza City, families are entering winter in appalling conditions, with nowhere safe to shelter.
— UNRWA (@UNRWA) November 25, 2024
Rain is pouring down and they need everything, including clothes, shoes, blankets and mattresses, as the cold is settling in.
This desperate situation must end.#CeasefireNow pic.twitter.com/tue9WuRIH1
Lebanon's National News Agency is reporting that one person has been killed in an Israeli strike on Hermel, a town in eastern Lebanon's Bekaa Valley.
According to the report, Israeli war planes flattened a two-storey house, leaving many still trapped under the rubble.
Elsewhere, Al Jazeera is reporting that Israeli air strikes continue to pound Beirut's southern suburbs, shortly after the Israeli military issued fresh forced expulsion orders for residents.
