IDF says ceasefire violated, Hezbollah counts their dead

US President Joe Biden, while speaking to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during their Tuesday phone call, reportedly told the latter that the time was right for a hostage deal.

"We have an opportunity now - let's get the hostages out," Biden reportedly said.

Biden's conversation with Netanyahu took place shortly after Israel's security cabinet approved the Lebanon ceasefire agreement, two senior American officials confirmed on Thursday. 

Israel’s acceptance of a ceasefire in Lebanon was a "strategic defeat" for the Jewish state and a sign that the country will disappear, Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps commander Hossein Salami stated in a message to Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem, Hezbollah-affiliated Lebanese media reported on Thursday.

According to the reports, Salami’s message stated Israel failed to achieve its military goals in Lebanon.

Throughout the war, Hezbollah had repeatedly reiterated that it would continue its attacks on Israel until Israel ceased its military operation in the Gaza Strip.

With the bodies of its fighters still strewn on the battlefield, Hezbollah must bury its dead and provide succor to its supporters who bore the brunt of Israel's offensive, as the first steps on a long and costly road to recovery, four senior officials said.

Hezbollah believes the number of its fighters killed during 14 months of hostilities could reach several thousand, with the vast majority killed since Israel went on the offensive in September, three sources familiar with its operations say, citing previously unreported internal estimates.

IDF special forces operated in the Nur a-Shams refugee camp in Tulkarm and arrested four suspects in terrorist activity on Thursday night.

IDF Arabic Media spokesperson Avichay Adraee warned residents of a number of areas of southern Lebanon not to return to their homes in a Thursday post to X/Twitter. 

Adraee named the Lebanese localities of Chebaa, Habbariyeh, Marjaayoun, Arnoun, Yohmor, Qantara, Chaqra, Baraashit, Yater, and Al-Mansouri in his post. 

#عاجل 🔴بيان عاجل إلى سكان لبنان
⭕️حتى إشعار آخر يحظر عليكم الانتقال جنوبًا إلى خط القرى التالية ومحيطها وأيضا داخل القرى نفسها: شبعا، الهبارية، مرجعيون، أرنون، يحمر، القنطرة، شقرا، برعشيت، ياطر، المنصوري
⭕️جيش الدفاع لا ينوي استهدافكم ولذلك يحظر عليكم في هذه المرحلة العودة إلى… pic.twitter.com/Ykcp0EoB2u

— افيخاي ادرعي (@AvichayAdraee) November 28, 2024

Adraee wrote that the IDF "does not intend to target you" but warned that at this stage, they could not return home until further notice. 

The IDF and Hezbollah jousted at low levels in several areas in southern Lebanon on Wednesday, but the ceasefire, which started at 4 a.m., largely held.

According to the IDF, over the course of the day, Hezbollah tried numerous low-level violations, including to enter certain areas of southern Lebanon.

The Israeli military said on Wednesday it had destroyed one of Hezbollah's top strategic missile sites near the border with Syria, hours before an Israel-Lebanon ceasefire took effect.