The Israeli military has carried out more than 500 operations across southern Lebanon in the two months since it agreed to a ceasefire with Hizbollah, with locals bracing for more destruction as Israeli troops planned to delay their retreat.

Israel has carried out regular attacks since a ceasefire with Lebanese militant groups began on November 27 after more than a year of conflict.

The non-profit group ACLED counted 515 operations from the start of the ceasefire until January 17. These included air strikes and drones, as well as more than 206 instances of destruction of property of 39 villages. At least 37 people died, according to a tally by the Financial Times.

According to the ceasefire, Israel is on Sunday to withdraw its forces from Lebanon and Hizbollah will move its weapons north of the Litani river, which runs up to 30km from the de facto border, to be replaced by the Lebanese Armed Forces. But the Israeli government said on Friday that its forces would remain in Lebanon beyond the deadline, with officials discussing a 30-day extension.

For residents of Lebanese border communities – many of whom have never returned – the prospect of continued Israeli occupation leaves them uncertain when they will return home, and what they will find if they do. them.

“They took advantage of the opportunity provided by the ceasefire,” Mohammad Srour, the mayor of Aita el-Chaab, said of the Israeli destruction of his border village. “Before the ceasefire they fired artillery and air strikes. But after the ceasefire they entered the village on the ground and more destruction followed.”

Some villagers lost patience and thought of returning on Sunday regardless of the dangers. “Whatever happens, happens,” said Najib Hussein Halawi, a local official in Kfar Kila, another community whose residents were displaced. “There are many dangers but what can you do? Sit there and be quiet?”

Israeli officials say their actions are in line with the ceasefire agreement, and they continue to operate because Hizbollah has operatives and infrastructure in place, while the LAF has yet to deploy in sufficient numbers. to stop the militants.

Unable to return to his village, Srour fled north, but he contacted family and friends who returned to assess the damage.

“This is a disaster,” he said in the village, which remains under Israeli occupation near the border, the UN-demarcated “Blue Line” that separates the countries. He said most houses were destroyed, with infrastructure bulldozed and everything from houses of worship to schools wiped off the map.

Hizbollah has warned Israel not to try “to be patient”, and last month launched rockets towards Israeli positions in the disputed territory of Shebaa Farms in what it called “repeated” ceasefire violations.

Lebanon’s new president Joseph Aoun also said this month that “the bombing of houses and the destruction of border villages are completely against the ceasefire”. The UN peacekeeping force this month cited Israeli bulldozing of an LAF observation tower and a UN border marker as “a flagrant violation”.

The Israeli military did not respond to a request for comment on its operations since the ceasefire. But on Thursday it said Hizbollah was using Aita to “store weapons and as a base to fire hundreds of rockets and anti-tank missiles into Israel” and that troops were conducting operations to “take out threats “. It said they found more than 30 weapons caches, with weapons stored in “residential buildings, courtyards, kindergartens, and basements”.

Locals say Israeli demolitions are a daily reality. Images captured by people around Naqoura, another border village, in December and early January showed Israeli bulldozers apparently destroying homes.

The LAF entered Naqoura at January 7 but Abbas Awada, the mayor, said residents were waiting for the army to announce that they had removed all unexploded ordnance before returning.

Before the ceasefire was agreed, the Israeli forces already systematically demolished buildings near the border. While they left more than a dozen villages along the western and central border, they remained mostly in the eastern part.

Local business owner Musa Hayouk lost his house, along with a chicken farm and yard, in Aita shortly after the ceasefire began. Having fled the town to the southern suburbs of Beirut, he saw the devastation through images from other residents who returned quickly to check on the village.

Israel’s operation amounts to collective punishment of residents regardless of whether they are linked to Hizbollah, Hayouk said: “Their goals are known, and we understand them.”

The conflict began after Hizbollah began shelling Israel following a Hamas attack on October 7 2023 in southern Israel. The year-long cross-border fire escalated sharply when Israel launched a ground invasion and devastating offensive against Hizbollah in October last year.

More than 4,000 people in Lebanon and 140 Israelis died in the fighting. About 1 million people were lost in Lebanon and 60,000 in Israel.

Ramzi Kaiss, a researcher at Human Rights Watch, says that the presence of Hizbollah’s military infrastructure does not justify many of Israel’s actions under international law.

“Even if there are military objectives in the villages, such as the tunnels used by Hizbollah, there are serious questions being raised about whether the level of destruction is necessary,” he said. “Entire border villages, contrary to the wishes of some Israeli officials, cannot be considered military objectives.”

Some of the worst demolitions took place in the village of Halawi, Kfar Kila. “There are explosions every day,” said Halawi. He estimated that a lot of damage happened after the ceasefire. Israel “crosses many borders”, he said.