Israel has lifted the state of emergency for areas near the border with Gaza for the first time since Hamas's October 2023 attack, Defense Minister Israel Katz announced Monday.

"I have decided to adopt the (Israeli military's) recommendation and to lift, for the first time since October 7, the special state on the home front," a statement from Katz's office said.

The families of Israeli hostages on Monday demanded that the next steps in the U.S.-brokered Gaza ceasefire be put on hold until Hamas returns the remaining bodies of dead captives.

"Hamas knows exactly where every one of the deceased hostages is held. Two weeks have passed since the deadline set in the agreement for the return of all 48 hostages, yet 13 remain in Hamas captivity," the Hostages and Missing Families Forum said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has warned that Israel would seek no approval to strike targets in Lebanon or Gaza, despite agreeing to ceasefires.

"Israel is an independent state. We will defend ourselves by our own means and we will continue to determine our fate," Netanyahu told a meeting of government ministers Sunday.

The health ministry has said that Israeli strikes on the country's south and east had killed three people Sunday, despite an ongoing ceasefire deal, as Israel claimed it had targeted two members of Hezbollah.

Officials said one person had been killed in an "Israeli enemy strike" on a car in Naqoura, in Tyre province, while another strike on a vehicle in Nabi Sheet, in the country's eastern Baalbek region, resulted in another fatality.

The Israeli military on Monday accused U.N. peacekeepers in southern Lebanon of shooting down one of its drones a day earlier during an intelligence-gathering mission.

"Yesterday, an IDF intelligence-gathering drone was downed in the area of Kfar Kila in southern Lebanon during a routine intelligence-gathering activity in the area," military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Nadav Shoshani said on X.

Lebanon's health ministry said two people were killed and another wounded in two Israeli strikes on the country's south Saturday, the latest attacks despite a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah.

The Israeli military said Saturday it had conducted an air strike targeting an alleged Islamic Jihad militant in central Gaza, despite a ceasefire brokered by U.S. President Donald Trump.

U.S. President Donald Trump on Saturday thanked Qatar's emir and prime minister for being a "big factor" in helping secure a Gaza ceasefire deal, during a refueling stop on his way to Asia.

A convoy of Egyptian trucks and vehicles transporting heavy machinery entered Gaza overnight to help locate the remains of Israeli hostages in the territory, AFP footage showed.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Friday that more countries are ready to normalize relations with Israel but the decision would await a broader regional agreement.