Lebanon OKs truce extension, Hezbollah hails 'glorious day' as Macron urges Israel to withdraw

Lebanon said Monday it would extend a ceasefire deal with Israel until mid-February, even though the Israeli military failed to meet a deadline to withdraw its troops and killed 22 people in the south of the country.

The deadly violence recorded by health officials Sunday came as residents tried to return home as Israel was scheduled to pull its troops from southern Lebanon.

The withdrawal deadline is part of a ceasefire agreement reached two months ago that ended Israel's war with Hezbollah, which had left the Lebanese group weakened.

The deal that took effect on November 27 said the Lebanese military was to deploy alongside U.N. peacekeepers in the south as the Israeli army withdrew over a 60-day period that ends on Sunday.

The parties have traded blame for the delay in implementing the agreement, and on Friday Israel said it would keep troops across the border in south Lebanon beyond the pullout date.

Lebanon's health ministry said on Sunday that Israeli forces opened fire on "citizens who were trying to return to their villages that are still under occupation."

It said 22 people including six women and a soldier were killed and 124 more wounded. The Lebanese army also announced the soldier's death and said another had been wounded.

Hezbollah hailed a "glorious day" and praised residents' "deep attachment to their land" in a statement on Sunday.

The group also called on the backers of the ceasefire agreement -- which includes the United States and France -- to "assume their responsibilities in the face of these violations and crimes of the Israeli enemy."

After talks with the U.S., caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati said Monday the government would "continue implementing the ceasefire agreement until February 18, 2025."

The Lebanese Army said earlier it would "continue to accompany residents" returning to the south and "protect them from Israeli attacks."

Israeli forces have left coastal areas of southern Lebanon but are still present in areas further east.

The ceasefire deal stipulates that Hezbollah pull back its forces north of the Litani River -- about 30 kilometers (20 miles) from the border -- and dismantle any remaining military infrastructure in the south.

But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said on Friday that the "agreement has not yet been fully enforced by the Lebanese state," so the military's withdrawal would continue beyond the Sunday deadline.

French President Emmanuel Macron told Netanyahu in a telephone call Sunday to "withdraw his forces still present in Lebanon" and stressed the importance of restoring Lebanese state authority nationwide, his office said.

The truce has generally held since November, despite repeated accusations of violations.

It ended two months of full-scale war that had followed nearly a year of low-intensity exchanges.

Hezbollah began trading cross-border fire with the Israeli military the day after the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel by its Palestinian ally Hamas, which triggered the war in Gaza.