Israel issues forced evacuation orders for southern Lebanon in escalation

Hezbollah rejects allegations from Benjamin Netanyahu that it is undermining the Israel-Lebanon ceasefire.

Israel has issued caller forced evacuation notices for areas successful confederate Lebanon, ordering residents of 7 towns that prevarication beyond its alleged “buffer zone” to leave, ramping up the struggle with Hezbollah contempt a US-brokered ceasefire.

An Israeli subject spokesperson said successful a connection connected X connected Sunday that the Lebanese equipped radical was violating the ceasefire ⁠and that Israel would enactment against it, telling residents to caput northbound and west.

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The towns are northbound of the Litani River, successful an country wherever Israeli troops person continued subject operations contempt the ceasefire. They prevarication extracurricular of what Israel has declared a “buffer zone”, an country stretching astir 10km (6 miles) northbound of the borderline wrong confederate Lebanon wherever Israeli forces remain.

Hezbollah rejected allegations that it is undermining the Israel-Lebanon ceasefire, saying its continued attacks are a “legitimate effect to the enemy’s persistent violations of the ceasefire”, which it claims person exceeded 500 incidents.

The Iran-aligned radical said successful a connection connected Telegram connected Sunday that it shouldn’t beryllium linked to a ceasefire that it didn’t approve, arsenic it had “no accidental oregon position”, adding that the radical volition not “place retired bets connected a failed diplomacy that has proven its ineffectiveness.”

“It indispensable beryllium understood that Hezbollah’s violations are, successful practice, dismantling the ceasefire,” Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said during a play furniture meeting.

The US-mediated ceasefire, which started connected April 16 and has been extended to mid-May, has brought a important simplification successful hostilities betwixt Israel and Hezbollah, though some sides person continued to occurrence astatine each other, trading blasted implicit breaches.

Al Jazeera’s analogous successful Tyre, Heidi Pett, said “there person been aggregate airstrikes crossed southbound Lebanon” connected Sunday, with galore radical fleeing to the towns of Sidon and Tyre.

“We erstwhile again person thousands of radical leaving their homes, joining the hundreds of thousands who were already antecedently displaced,” she said.

A displaced man, who fled his location aft an Israeli evacuation order, sits successful a university-turned-shelter successful Sidon, Lebanon, April 13, 2026 [Aziz Taher/Reuters]

Hezbollah said it attacked Israeli troops wrong Lebanon arsenic good arsenic the rescue unit that came to evacuate them, targeting a recently established Israeli artillery presumption successful the municipality of Biyyada with a swarm of drones.

It besides claimed 2 drone attacks connected a gathering of Israeli soldiers successful the municipality of Taybeh, saying casualties were reported among Israeli forces, without giving further details.

‘The information of Israel’

The Israeli service said a 19-year-old soldier, Sergeant Idan Fooks, was killed “during combat” successful confederate Lebanon, portion 5 others were injured.

“From our perspective, what obliges america is the information of Israel, the information of our soldiers, the information of our communities,” Netanyahu was cited arsenic saying astatine a furniture gathering successful Jerusalem, by Reuters quality agency.

Under the presumption of the truce, Israel reserves the close to respond to “planned, imminent oregon ongoing attacks” and has been striking what it says are Hezbollah targets successful southbound Lebanon astir each day.

The Israeli subject said it struck Hezbollah’s “military infrastructure sites utilized to beforehand attacks,” successful a station connected X.

Since the warfare was renewed betwixt Israel and Hezbollah connected March 2, astatine slightest 2,509 radical person been killed and 7,755 wounded by Israeli attacks, according to Lebanon’s Health Ministry.