March 19, 2025
JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel's military says its forces will remain in five strategic locations in southern Lebanon after Tuesday's deadline for their withdrawal under a ceasefire with the Hezbollah terrorist group, as Lebanon’s government expressed frustration over another delay.
A separate ceasefire in Gaza was also in doubt as the region marked 500 days of Israel's war with the terror group Hamas. Talks on the ceasefire's second phase are yet to start.
Military spokesperson Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani said the five locations in Lebanon provide vantage points or are located across from communities in northern Israel, where about 60,000 Israelis are still displaced. He said the “temporary measure” was approved by the U.S.-led body monitoring the truce, which earlier was extended by three weeks.
Under the agreement, Israeli forces should withdraw from a buffer zone in southern Lebanon that would be patrolled by the Lebanese army and U.N. peacekeepers. The ceasefire has held since taking effect in November.
Israel is committed to a withdrawal in “the right way, in a gradual way, and in a way that the security of our civilians is kept,” Shoshani told reporters.
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun told reporters the ceasefire “must be respected,” saying “the Israeli enemy cannot be trusted.” He said Lebanese officials were working diplomatically to achieve the 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, terror 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 terrorist group’s senior leaders.
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. AP video there showed a charred vehicle.
Israelis held protests across the country calling for the Gaza ceasefire to be extended so that more hostages abducted by Hamas in the Oct. 7 attack can be freed.
The ceasefire's first phase ends in less than two weeks, and negotiations on the more difficult second phase — which would release more hostages and see the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza — should have started two weeks ago.
“All I care about, all I want, is for my friends to return. There were six of us living in unbearable conditions" Ohad Ben Ami, a hostage released a week and a half ago, told Israeli President Isaac Herzog. Families have wept as they described hungry loved ones barefoot or in chains.
Hamas is gradually releasing 33 hostages in the current phase in exchange for nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners. Israeli forces have pulled back from most parts of Gaza and allowed a surge of humanitarian aid.
In the second phase, Hamas would release over 70 remaining hostages — around half believed to be dead — in exchange for more Palestinian prisoners and a lasting ceasefire.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and U.S. President Donald Trump 's administration say they are committed to the eradication of Hamas and the return of all hostages.
The terrorist group, though weakened, remains in control of Gaza. Hamas has said it is willing to relinquish power to other Palestinians but will not accept any occupying force.
Trump has called for Gaza’s population of over 2 million to be permanently relocated to other countries and for the United States to take ownership of the territory. Israel has welcomed the plan, while Palestinians and Arab nations have rejected it.
Hamas-led terrorists killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducted around 250, in the attack on Oct. 7. More than half of the hostages have been returned, while eight have been rescued in military operations.
