IDF combat engineering personnel and additional soldiers were deployed in northern Israel to clear military equipment, clean waste, and remove unexploded ordnance from over 40 communities that were used as military staging areas, the IDF announced on Sunday.
This comes as part of a wide-ranging IDF operation to restore and clear up communities in northern Israel following over a year of damage caused by thousands of Hezbollah rocket, missile, and drone attacks.
Hezbollah began its attacks on October 8, 2023, in support of Hamas, which, the day before, initiated the ongoing Gaza war by launching cross-border attacks in southern Israel.
The IDF ordnance-clearing operations are conducted to create conditions for the return of northern residents to their homes, the military noted.
Israel-Lebanon ceasefire
Israel launched a limited ground operation into southern Lebanon on September 30.
Israel and Lebanon signed a US and France-mediated ceasefire agreement on November 26, which mandated a 60-day halt to hostilities, including a Hezbollah requirement to withdraw its forces north of the Litani River.