Hezbollah chief Sheikh Naim Qassem has announced that the ceaesfire agreement's violation by Israel "highlights Lebanon's need for the resistance," adding that so-called army-people-resistance equation is "still steadfast despite the talk of haters."

In a pre-recorded speech aired Monday, Qassem added that his group won’t accept the extension of the ceasefire deadline, without addressing the fact that the Lebanese government had already done so overnight.

A source close to Hezbollah said Monday that Israel's army detained seven fighters from the Lebanese group during more than a year of hostilities between the two sides before a November ceasefire.

"Seven fighters from Hezbollah were taken prisoner" by Israel before the November 27 truce went into effect, the source said, requesting anonymity as the matter is sensitive.

An Israeli government spokesman on Monday stressed Israel’s “commitment” to the ceasefire agreement with Lebanon but added that “Hezbollah must withdraw beyond the Litani River.”

Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil on Monday slammed what he called the “provocative” and “sectarian” behavior of the Hezbollah supporters who staged overnight motorbike rallies in Gemmayze, Ain el-Rummaneh, Dora, Bourj Hammoud, Saqiyet al-Janzir and Maghdoushe, warning that “extremism fuels counter-extremism.”

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea has commented on Sunday’s incidents in south Lebanon by saying that “the current government has once again proved that it is nonexistent and the Axis of Defiance has demonstrated that it does not value people’s lives.”

Lebanon's heath ministry said Israeli fire killed two people Monday and wounded 17 others in the south, in a second day of Israeli violence as residents tried again to return to border villages.

The bloodshed, which one analyst said was unlikely to re-spark war, came hours after the extension of a deadline for Israeli forces to withdraw from south Lebanon under a November ceasefire deal.

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 Manara settlement in northern Israel is so close to the Lebanese border that patrons of a local pub joke that Hezbollah could see if they were eating sunflower seeds or potato chips with their beers.

The proximity made Manara so vulnerable in the war between Israel and Hezbollah that rockets and explosive drones damaged the majority of homes, turning the tiny settlement into a symbol of the heavy price of fighting. The settlement's 300 residents were among the 60,000 Israelis evacuated by the government from communities along the Lebanese border during the 14-month war.

The ceasefire arrangement between Lebanon and Israel, monitored by the United States, will continue to be in effect until February 18, the White House said late Sunday.

"The Government of Lebanon, the Government of Israel, and the Government of the United States will also begin negotiations for the return of Lebanese prisoners captured after October 7, 2023," the White House added, referring to the Hezbollah fighters who were captured by Israel during the September-November war.

The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) said Sunday that it is "very concerned about reports of Lebanese civilians returning to villages where" Israeli forces are still present and of "casualties due to Israeli fire."