A ceasefire agreement between Israel and the Lebanese resistance group Hezbollah brokered by the US and France came into effect at 4am local time (02:00 GMT), reports Middle East Monitor.
Under the agreement, the Lebanese Armed Forces will deploy to southern Lebanon within 60 days, during which time Israel will gradually withdraw its remaining forces. The deal also requires Hezbollah to move its forces north of the Litani River.
US President Joe Biden maintained that while there will be no American troops on the ground in southern Lebanon, “we, along with France and others, will provide the necessary assistance to make sure this deal is implemented fully and effectively.”
“Civilians on both sides will soon be able to safely return to their communities and begin to rebuild their homes, their schools, their farms, their businesses and their very lives,” Biden said.
According to reports, 5,000 to 10,000 Lebanese soldiers will be deployed to the area between the Israel-Lebanon border and the Litani River. The deployment aims to prevent rearmament by armed groups in accordance with UN Security Council Resolution 1701.
At least 55 people were killed on Monday in Israeli attacks on Lebanon, bringing the death toll since October 2023 to 3,823, the Lebanese Health Ministry said yesterday.
A total of 160 others were wounded over the past 24 hours, raising the number of injuries to 15,859.
In the hours leading up to the ceasefire, Israeli air strikes on the Lebanese capital Beirut and its southern suburbs, as well as the southern and eastern provinces of the country, intensified, resulting in dozens of deaths and injuries.
Lebanese MP Hassan Fadlallah has said that Hezbollah is cooperating with the Lebanese state over bolstering the army’s presence in the south, saying that the group has “no visible weapons or bases,” an AFP report said.
According to the ceasefire agreement between the group and Israel which was implemented this morning, the Lebanese army can be the only armed presence in southern Lebanon.
However in Gaza, twelve Palestinians, including women and children, have been killed in an Israeli attack on a school in central Gaza City, Wafa news agency reported, citing medical sources.
The report said that Israeli warplanes targeted al-Tabin school in the city’s al-Daraj neighbourhood.
The latest deaths bring the toll of Palestinians killed in Gaza to 44,282, with 33 killed in the last 24 hours according to the enclave’s health ministry.
Female Palestinian detainees held at the Israeli Damon Prison are facing increasingly brutal treatment and harsh conditions, the Palestinian Prisoners Commission revealed today.
Following a visit by the commission’s lawyer, it said in a statement that the prison administration is continuing to refuse detainees winter clothing and blankets amid increasingly wintry weather conditions. According to the statement, detainees are only permitted one winter coat, and only very basic hygiene and personal care supplies.
It added that prison guards regularly enter cells without regard for the detainees’ privacy, using tear gas in some instances. Some detainees also reported that the prison’s deputy director had physically assaulted them.
Moreover, the commission found that women were deterred from seeking medical treatment at the prison clinic, as they often face interrogation during their visits.
It added that plastic barriers had been placed over the doors of the women’s cells to prevent them from communicating with each other.
