Netanyahu Says Israeli Forces Will Stay in Lebanon Past Ceasefire Deadline
Israel has reportedly violated its ceasefire deal with Hezbollah hundreds of times already, killing numerous people.
By Sharon Zhang ,
January 24, 2025
Israeli army vehicles move in a village in southern Lebanon as seen from a position on the Israeli side of the border on January 23, 2025.Amir Levy / Getty Images
The Israeli military is planning to continue occupying southern Lebanon past the deadline set forth in Israel’s ceasefire agreement with Hezbollah, Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said.
Under the terms of the deal, agreed to in November, Israel and Hezbollah were supposed to withdraw from southern Lebanon by this Sunday, January 26. They were to be replaced by troops from the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), and then the Lebanese army in the region in order to help oversee implementation of the ceasefire. The U.S. is also in charge of helping to ensure implementation.
In a statement on Friday, however, Netanyahu’s office said that Israeli forces are going to remain in southern Lebanon past the deadline, claiming that the Lebanese army has not deployed quickly enough in the region.
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“Since the cease-fire agreement has not yet been fully enforced by Lebanon, the gradual withdrawal process will continue under full cooperation with the United States,” the statement said.
Lebanese officials have said that they can only send their troops into the region when Israeli troops are gone.
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The Israeli military is planning to continue occupying southern Lebanon past the deadline set forth in Israel’s ceasefire agreement with Hezbollah, Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said.
Under the terms of the deal, agreed to in November, Israel and Hezbollah were supposed to withdraw from southern Lebanon by this Sunday, January 26. They were to be replaced by troops from the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), and then the Lebanese army in the region in order to help oversee implementation of the ceasefire. The U.S. is also in charge of helping to ensure implementation.
In a statement on Friday, however, Netanyahu’s office said that Israeli forces are going to remain in southern Lebanon past the deadline, claiming that the Lebanese army has not deployed quickly enough in the region.
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“Since the cease-fire agreement has not yet been fully enforced by Lebanon, the gradual withdrawal process will continue under full cooperation with the United States,” the statement said.
Lebanese officials have said that they can only send their troops into the region when Israeli troops are gone.
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The Israeli military has been suggesting for weeks now that it is going to maintain its presence in the area, as part of its long history of violating international agreements and law. In late December, Israeli authorities said they were satisfied with the implementation of the agreement until that point, but still signalled they were planning to stay in Lebanon.
The ceasefire agreement has already been imperiled as Israel has repeatedly violated the ceasefire, continuing to attack Lebanon even after hostilities were supposed to end under the agreement. In the first week alone, Israel reportedly violated the ceasefire at least 100 times, and has now violated the agreement hundreds of times, Lebanese sources say. Israel has killed numerous people amid these seeming violations.
Israeli soldiers have also prevented Lebanese people from returning to their homes in the south, reports say.
The ceasefire deal doesn’t specify consequences for violations of the ceasefire. In recent days, Israeli officials have been in talks with the U.S. to discuss staying in Lebanon past the deadline. Israeli media have reported that Israel has asked for 30 more days to withdraw, claiming that Hezbollah has also violated the ceasefire agreement.
Hezbollah has only carried out one strike since the ceasefire, dropping a bomb on a military base in retaliation to Israeli attacks. Israel retaliated to that strike by killing at least nine people in air raids on Lebanon.
Since October 2023, Israel has killed over 4,000 people in Lebanon, many of them civilians. A BBC investigation published on Friday found that on September 29, 2024, in the single deadliest attack of Israel’s war with Hezbollah, Israel killed at least 62 civilians in a strike on south Lebanon. The attack collapsed an entire apartment building, which Israel claimed it targeted because it was a Hezbollah “command center.”
Israel has invaded Lebanon six times in the past 50 years. The Israeli military’s longest occupation of Lebanon began in the 1980s, when it invaded and occupied southern Lebanon until it was forced to withdraw in 2000, largely due to resistance from Hezbollah, which had risen to prominence during the occupation.
Violating Cease-Fire Deal, Israel Won't Withdraw Troops From Lebanon Before Deadline
"A renewal of hostilities would be a devastating blow for civilians still struggling to rebuild their lives," said one humanitarian worker.
Destruction resulting from Israeli attacks is seen as citizens return to their homes in Al-Khiyam town, Nabatieh Governorate of southern Lebanon on January 23, 2025.
(Photo: Ramiz Dallah/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Julia Conley
Jan 24, 2025
COMMON DREAMS
The Trump administration on Friday called for a "short, temporary cease-fire extension" between Israel and Lebanon after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the country's troops will not complete its withdrawal from southern Lebanon as it agreed to in a 60-day truce that began in late November.
Under the terms of the cease-fire, Israel agreed to withdraw its military from southern Lebanon by January 26, and the Lebanese political and paramilitary group Hezbollah was required to move its forces north of the Litani River and dismantle all military infrastructure in the south.
Netanyahu's office claimed Friday that "the cease-fire agreement has not yet been fully enforced by the Lebanese state" and said its "gradual withdrawal process will continue, in full coordination with the United States."
Israel asserted that the truce allowed for the withdrawal process to "continue beyond 60 days—a claim the Lebanese government and Hezbollah refuted—and claimed the Lebanese army had allowed Hezbollah to regroup since the cease-fire began.
Hezbollah called Israel's plan to maintain a military presence in southern Lebanon past the deadline a "blatant violation of the agreement."
As Hezbollah warned it would consider the cease-fire null and void if Israel does not withdraw by January 26, White House National Security Council spokesperson Brian Hughes said an extension of the deadline is "urgently needed."
Emile Hokayem of the International Institute for Strategic Studies said Israel's "unilteral extension... is clearly a violation of the November cease-fire," while Lebanese American journalist Rania Khalek noted that Israel "has been violating the cease-fire the entire time with zero international condemnation."
The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) said that while the cease-fire has significantly reduced casualties in Lebanon following 14 months of fighting between the Israel Defense Forces and Hezbollah, at least 29 civilians have been killed since the truce began.
"While the cease-fire seems intact on paper, civilians in Lebanon continued to be killed and their homes blown up by the Israeli military," said Maureen Philippon, Lebanon country director for the NRC.
Prior to the cease-fire deal in November, the conflict killed at least 3,823 people and injured 15,859, as well as displacing tens of thousands of people in Israel and over 1 million in Lebanon. More than 100,000 people in Lebanon have still been unable to return to their homes.
"We have been displaced from our village for 16 months," a Lebanese citizen named Rakad, who fled the border town of Yarine, told the NRC. "We are all waiting for the 27th to go back, kiss the soil of our land, and breathe the air of our village."
Israel's likely delay in withdrawing troops comes as Lebanese residents have begun returning to their villages in the south, but the Lebanese military on Friday called on civilians not to return to the coastal town of Naquora, which Mayor Abbas Awada told Al Jazeera "has become a disaster zone of a town."
"The bare necessities of life are absent here," said the mayor.
The NRC warned that the "continued presence of Israeli troops in dozens of villages in southern Lebanon severely restricts the freedom of movement and leaves many in a prolonged state of displacement."
Philippon called on regional and international mediators to "ensure this truce evolves into a lasting cease-fire, with a firm commitment to protecting all civilians and civilian infrastructure."
"A renewal of hostilities would be a devastating blow for civilians still struggling to rebuild their lives," said Philippon. "Lebanese villagers are still being warned against returning to their homes and lands, while many others don't even know what happened to the house they left months ago. These people will need all the stability and support they can get to get back on their feet after. Israel must withdraw from these villages so that thousands can go back."
"A renewal of hostilities would be a devastating blow for civilians still struggling to rebuild their lives," said one humanitarian worker.
Destruction resulting from Israeli attacks is seen as citizens return to their homes in Al-Khiyam town, Nabatieh Governorate of southern Lebanon on January 23, 2025.
(Photo: Ramiz Dallah/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Julia Conley
Jan 24, 2025
COMMON DREAMS
The Trump administration on Friday called for a "short, temporary cease-fire extension" between Israel and Lebanon after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the country's troops will not complete its withdrawal from southern Lebanon as it agreed to in a 60-day truce that began in late November.
Under the terms of the cease-fire, Israel agreed to withdraw its military from southern Lebanon by January 26, and the Lebanese political and paramilitary group Hezbollah was required to move its forces north of the Litani River and dismantle all military infrastructure in the south.
Netanyahu's office claimed Friday that "the cease-fire agreement has not yet been fully enforced by the Lebanese state" and said its "gradual withdrawal process will continue, in full coordination with the United States."
Israel asserted that the truce allowed for the withdrawal process to "continue beyond 60 days—a claim the Lebanese government and Hezbollah refuted—and claimed the Lebanese army had allowed Hezbollah to regroup since the cease-fire began.
Hezbollah called Israel's plan to maintain a military presence in southern Lebanon past the deadline a "blatant violation of the agreement."
As Hezbollah warned it would consider the cease-fire null and void if Israel does not withdraw by January 26, White House National Security Council spokesperson Brian Hughes said an extension of the deadline is "urgently needed."
Emile Hokayem of the International Institute for Strategic Studies said Israel's "unilteral extension... is clearly a violation of the November cease-fire," while Lebanese American journalist Rania Khalek noted that Israel "has been violating the cease-fire the entire time with zero international condemnation."
The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) said that while the cease-fire has significantly reduced casualties in Lebanon following 14 months of fighting between the Israel Defense Forces and Hezbollah, at least 29 civilians have been killed since the truce began.
"While the cease-fire seems intact on paper, civilians in Lebanon continued to be killed and their homes blown up by the Israeli military," said Maureen Philippon, Lebanon country director for the NRC.
Prior to the cease-fire deal in November, the conflict killed at least 3,823 people and injured 15,859, as well as displacing tens of thousands of people in Israel and over 1 million in Lebanon. More than 100,000 people in Lebanon have still been unable to return to their homes.
"We have been displaced from our village for 16 months," a Lebanese citizen named Rakad, who fled the border town of Yarine, told the NRC. "We are all waiting for the 27th to go back, kiss the soil of our land, and breathe the air of our village."
Israel's likely delay in withdrawing troops comes as Lebanese residents have begun returning to their villages in the south, but the Lebanese military on Friday called on civilians not to return to the coastal town of Naquora, which Mayor Abbas Awada told Al Jazeera "has become a disaster zone of a town."
"The bare necessities of life are absent here," said the mayor.
The NRC warned that the "continued presence of Israeli troops in dozens of villages in southern Lebanon severely restricts the freedom of movement and leaves many in a prolonged state of displacement."
Philippon called on regional and international mediators to "ensure this truce evolves into a lasting cease-fire, with a firm commitment to protecting all civilians and civilian infrastructure."
"A renewal of hostilities would be a devastating blow for civilians still struggling to rebuild their lives," said Philippon. "Lebanese villagers are still being warned against returning to their homes and lands, while many others don't even know what happened to the house they left months ago. These people will need all the stability and support they can get to get back on their feet after. Israel must withdraw from these villages so that thousands can go back."
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