The Middle East War in Gaza: Status and Prospects of the U.S.–France Breaking of the Inter-American Free Trade Agreement

Scott Neuman reported from Tel Aviv, Israel. Lauren Frayer is based in Lebanon, while Daniel Estrin is from Tel Aviv.

“Urgent work must now begin to ensure this peace is sustained. Children and families must be able to return to their communities safely, especially those displaced in shelters and host communities,” the agency said.

According to the statement from the UN, it hopes the ceasefire will bring an end to the war which has killed more than 250 children and injured over 1,400.

More than 3,760 people were killed by Israeli fire in Lebanon during the conflict, many of them civilians, according to Lebanese health officials. More than 70 people, half of them civilians, were killed in Israel during the fighting, and dozens of Israeli soldiers were killed in southern Lebanon.

On the Lebanese side of the border, “many of the country’s displaced may not be able to return home for months, as Israel has razed entire villages near the ‘Blue Line’ border,” according to David Wood, a senior analyst on Lebanon at Crisis Group. The Blue Line is the demarcation in southern Lebanon from where Israel withdrew in 2000.

Iran, which backs Hezbollah and Hamas in Gaza, said it was happy that the U.S.- andFrance brokered deal would end the aggression against Lebanon. The Iranian Foreign Ministry supports the nation and the government of Lebanon.

Israel retaliated with airstrikes, and the conflict steadily intensified for nearly a year before boiling over into all-out war in mid-September. The war in Gaza is still raging with no end in sight.

The presidents of France and the Unites States said in a joint statement that the deal will cease the fighting in Lebanon and secure Israel from the threat of Hezbollah. It will allow residents in both countries to go back and forth across the border safely, they said.

The deal requires the deployment of thousands of government soldiers along with UN forces to the south, according to a copy seen by NPR. A U.S.-led international panel will monitor for violations of the terms of the agreement.

Israel has pledged to aggressively respond to any breach of the terms. “Any violation of the ceasefire will be met with fire,” Israeli military spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari told reporters. Israeli soldiers are in southern Lebanon, in the areas from which they will gradually withdraw in line with the agreement, he said.

“The stated intent is that at the smallest infraction, they will go through the motions of reporting this to the [U.S.-led international] supervisory committee and [if] Israel doesn’t get satisfaction, they will take action on their own,” he says.

Lipner is a Middle East expert at the Atlantic Council. They have telegraphed that there wouldn’t be any exceptions in the past.

The agreement also calls on the government ofLebanon to prevent Hezbollah from carrying out attacks on Israel. It further requires Lebanon’s military and security forces be the only armed group allowed to operate in southern Lebanon, and that Lebanese authorities prevent the reestablishment and rearming of any non-state armed group in the country.

The ceasefire agreement calls for a 60-day timeframe for Hezbollah fighters to withdraw from an area south of the Litani River — effectively creating a buffer between the militants and northern Israel. Israeli forces are expected to similarly withdraw to the Israeli side of the border.

There was a lot of international pressure that had to come. He said that they have somewhere to go back to. Alluding to the devastation that Israel has inflicted on southern Lebanon, he added: “The Lebanese have nowhere to return to.”

Peretz said that Hezbollah had never suffered a lesson like that in its entire lifetime, despite being founded during Lebanon’s 1975-1990 civil war.

Israel is discouraging its citizens from going back to their abandoned homes in the border area. There will be a 60 to 30 day period of renovations for the damaged institutions before Israel is able to repatriate Israeli citizens.

When she was forced to leave her previous home in southern Lebanon,Patricia Taleb was driving to get back to it. The end days of the war are here. She told NPR that they know that it will be okay.

Many of their people in the south began trying to return to their homes, despite warnings by the Israeli military.

Israel has fulfilled its military objectives, primarily eliminating Hezbollah infrastructure, says Randa Slim, director of the Conflict Resolution and Track II Dialogues Program at the Middle East Institute. “On the border, it’s pretty much destroyed,” Slim says. Their military command council and top senior political leadership have been wiped out. So these are severe blows to Hezbollah, which is going to take a long, long time to recover from.”

The sound of gunfire rang out in the capital city of Lebanon to mark the beginning of a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah.

The National News Agency of Lebanon said two people were wounded by Israeli fire in Markaba, close to the border. It said Israel fired artillery in three other locations near the border. There were no reports of casualties.

An AP reporter heard the sound of Israeli drones flying overhead and the sound of shells being fired from the Lebanon side.

In Menara, an Israeli community on the border with views into Lebanon, around three quarters of homes are damaged, some with collapsed roofs and burnt-out interiors. Some residents were seen gathering belongings on Thursday prior to leaving again.