WASHINGTON/CAIRO/BEIRUT:
Hezbollah reacted with contempt to President Donald Trump’s announcement of a three-week extension of the Israel-Lebanon ceasefire, calling the truce “meaningless”. The Iran-backed militant group is still a powerful force in Lebanon, and concerns over the government’s ability to bring it under control have raised questions about the ceasefire’s long-term prospects.
While the ceasefire has led to a significant reduction in hostilities, Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah have continued to trade blows in southern Lebanon, where Israel has kept soldiers in a self-declared “buffer zone”.
Responding to the extension, Hezbollah lawmaker Ali Fayyad said “it is essential to point out that the ceasefire is meaningless in light of Israel’s insistence on hostile acts, including assassinations, shelling, and gunfire” and its demolition of villages and towns in the south.
“Every Israeli attack … gives the resistance the right to a proportionate response,” he added.
Hezbollah is not a party to the ceasefire agreement, and has strongly objected to Lebanon’s face-to-face contacts with Israel.
Meanwhile, Israeli fire killed at least ten people including two police officers across Gaza on Friday, Palestinian health officials said.
An Israeli strike in Gaza City killed three people, including two police, tank shelling killed two in Beit Lahiya, and a strike on Khan Younis in the south killed five, according to local medics.
The Israeli military confirmed they had conducted a strike on Gaza City and said they were targeting Hamas militants. The military did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the other reported strikes.
The strikes in Gaza City and Khan Younis targeted the local police force, Gaza’s interior ministry said. The strike in Khan Younis targeted a police vehicle, the ministry added, and hit near a wedding hall, medics and residents said.
Reuters has previously reported that Israel has heightened its attacks on Gaza’s Hamas-run police force that the militant group has used to reestablish governance in the areas it controls in the strip.
Violence in Gaza has persisted despite the October 2025 ceasefire, with Israel conducting near-daily attacks on Palestinians.
At least 800 Palestinians have been killed since the ceasefire deal took effect, according to local medics, while Israel says militants have killed four of its soldiers.
Israel and Hamas have exchanged blame for ceasefire violations.
More than 72,000 Gazans have been killed since the war started in October 2023, most of them civilians, according to Gaza health authorities.
