JERUSALEM (AP) — The Israeli military says its forces will remain in five strategic locations in southern Lebanon near the border after Tuesday's deadline for their withdrawal under a ceasefire with the Hezbollah militant group. The move came as the region marked 500 days of unrest linked to the war in the Gaza Strip.
Lebanon's government and Hezbollah are opposed to any further delay in the withdrawal, which had already been postponed for three weeks. A separate ceasefire in Gaza is also in doubt, with Israel and the United States sending conflicting signals over whether they want it to continue.
Earlier on Monday, an Israeli drone targeted a car in Lebanon’s southern port city of Sidon, the deepest strike inside Lebanese territory since the ceasefire took effect. Israel said it targeted Muhammad Shaheen, the head of Hamas’ operations in Lebanon. Footage circulating online showed a car engulfed in flames.
Separately, a watchdog opposed to Jewish settlements on Palestinian territory said Monday that Israel has issued a tender for the construction of nearly 1,000 additional settler homes in the occupied West Bank.
Israel says it is committed to Lebanon withdrawal
Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani, a military spokesperson, said the five locations provide vantage points or are located across from communities in northern Israel. He said the “temporary measure” was approved by the U.S.-led body monitoring the truce.
Israel is committed to carrying out the withdrawal in “the right way, in a gradual way, and in a way that the security of our civilians is kept," he told reporters.
Under the agreement, Israeli forces are to withdraw from a buffer zone in southern Lebanon, which would then be patrolled by the Lebanese army and U.N. peacekeepers. The ceasefire has held since it took effect in late November, even as Israel and Lebanon have accused each other of violations.
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun told reporters Monday that the ceasefire agreement “must be respected,” saying “the Israeli enemy cannot be trusted.”
He said Lebanese officials “are working diplomatically to achieve the complete Israeli withdrawal, and I will not accept that a single Israeli remains on Lebanese territory.”
Hezbollah began firing rockets, drones and missiles into Israel the day after Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023 attack out of Gaza ignited the war there. The Israel-Hezbollah conflict boiled over into all-out war in September as Israel carried out massive waves of airstrikes and killed most of the militant group's top leaders.
Israelis mark 500 days of war and captivity
Israelis held protests across the country on Monday calling for the ceasefire in Gaza to be extended so that more hostages abducted in the Oct. 7 attack can be freed. Demonstrators blocked a main intersection in Tel Aviv, and some protesters planned to fast for 500 minutes in a show of solidarity.
“All I care about, all I want, is for my friends to return. There were six of us living in unbearable conditions, in a 6-square-meter (65-square-foot) space. I got out, but they are still there," Ohad Ben Ami, a hostage who was released a week and a half ago, told Israeli President Isaac Herzog on Monday. He added that hostages don't count days while in captivity, they count minutes and seconds.
Hamas is set to continue the gradual release of 33 hostages during the current phase of the truce in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners. Israeli forces have pulled back from most parts of Gaza and allowed a surge of humanitarian aid.
But the two sides have yet to negotiate the second phase, in which Hamas would release more than 70 remaining hostages — around half of whom are believed to be dead — in exchange for more Palestinian prisoners, a full Israeli withdrawal and a lasting ceasefire.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Trump administration have given conflicting signals over the truce. They say they are committed to the eradication of Hamas and the return of all the hostages, but those goals are widely seen as incompatible.
Hamas-led militants killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, in the Oct. 7, 2023, attack and abducted around 250. More than half of the hostages have been returned in agreements with Hamas or other deals, while just eight have been rescued in military operations.
The militant group, though weakened, remains in full control of the territory. Hamas has said it is willing to relinquish power to other Palestinians but will not accept any occupying force.
Israel's air and ground war has killed over 48,000 Palestinians, more than half of them women and children, according to Gaza's Health Ministry, which does not say how many were combatants. The war destroyed vast areas of Gaza and at its height had displaced around 90% of the population of 2.3 million.
Trump has called for Gaza's population to be permanently relocated to other countries and for the United States to take ownership of the territory and rebuild it for others. Israel has welcomed the plan, while Palestinians and Arab nations have universally rejected the idea.
Rights groups and experts say the proposal, if implemented, would likely violate international law.
Settlement expansion is set to accelerate with Trump in office
The anti-settlement group Peace Now said Israel issued a tender for 974 new settler housing units, which would allow the population of the Efrat settlement to expand by 40% and further block the development of the nearby Palestinian city of Bethlehem.
Hagit Ofran, who leads the group’s settlement monitoring, said construction can begin after the contracting process and issuing of permits, which could take another year at least.
There was no immediate comment from the Israeli government.
Israel captured the West Bank, along with the Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem, in the 1967 Mideast war. The Palestinians want all three territories for their future state and view the settlements as a major obstacle to peace, a position with wide international support.
President Donald Trump lent unprecedented support to the settlements during his previous term. Israel has also steadily expanded settlements during Democratic administrations, which were more critical but rarely took any action to curb them.
Israel has built well over 100 settlements across the West Bank, ranging from hilltop outposts to fully developed suburban communities, with apartment blocks, malls and parks.
Over 500,000 settlers live in the occupied West Bank, which is home to some 3 million Palestinians. The settlers have Israeli citizenship, while Palestinians live under military rule with the Western-backed Palestinian Authority administering population centers.
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Abou AlJoud reported from Beirut. Associated Press reporter Wafaa Shurafa in Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip, contributed to this report.
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Follow AP’s war coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war
Melanie Lidman And Sally Abou Aljoud, The Associated Press
