Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire offers a fragile peace some fear won't be enough
JERUSALEM — The ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah appeared on the verge of collapse this week — something that is not a surprise to many Israelis.
JERUSALEM — The ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah appeared on the verge of collapse this week — something that is not a surprise to many Israelis.
Both sides accused the other of violating last week’s ceasefire arrangement. On Monday night, Israeli strikes on two southern Lebanese villages killed at least 10 people, Lebanon’s Public Health Ministry said. That was a response to an earlier Hezbollah attack on Israeli military positions in the disputed Shebaa Farms, which itself was in retaliation for what the militant group said were multiple ceasefire violations.
While Israel says it has achieved its military goals of weakening Hezbollah, the ceasefire that went into effect Nov. 27 did not resolve, from its perspective, a major systemic issue: how to make sure Hezbollah, Iran’s most powerful proxy group, does not threaten Israel with an incursion like Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attack in southern Israel, in which 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were kidnapped.
Israel's Iron Dome air defense system intercepts rockets fired from southern Lebanon in northern Israel on Aug. 4.Jalaa Marey / AFP - Getty ImagesLimor Ben-Avi, 47, fled her home in the border city of Kiryat Shimona 14 months ago and has been living in hotels in Eilat and Tiberias ever since. Ben-Avi, the mother of twin 6-year-olds, said she had adjusted to the threat from the missiles that had streaked across the sky from Lebanon even before the war.
The Oct. 7 Hamas attack changed her calculation.
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