TYRE, Lebanon — Thousands of Lebanese displaced by the war between Israel and Hezbollah militants returned home Wednesday, Nov. 27, 2024, as a ceasefire took hold, driving cars stacked with personal belongings and defying warnings from Lebanese and Israeli troops to avoid some areas. If it endures, the ceasefire would end nearly 14 months of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, which escalated in mid-September into all-out war and threatened to pull Hezbollah’s patron, Iran, and Israel’s closest ally, the United States, into a broader conflagration.
The deal does not address the war in Gaza, where Israeli strikes overnight on two schools-turned-shelters in Gaza City killed 11 people, including four children, according to hospital officials. Israel said one strike targeted a Hamas sniper and the other targeted militants hiding among civilians. The truce in Lebanon could give reprieve to the 1.
2 million Lebanese displaced by the fighting and the tens of thousands of Israelis who fled their homes along the border. “They were a nasty and ugly 60 days,” said Mohammed Kaafarani, 59, who was displaced from the Lebanese village of Bidias. “We reached a point where there was no place to hide.
” The US- and France-brokered deal, approved by Israel late Tuesday, Nov. 26, calls for an initial two-month halt to fighting and requires Hezbollah to end its armed presence in southern Lebanon, while Israeli troops are to return to their side of the border. Israel says it reserve.