News - Israel continues to bomb Lebanon despite a truce. Will Gaza be different?

As the drone of warplanes fades and Israeli forces pull back from deep inside Gaza, thousands of Palestinians are returning to ruined homes, many for the first time in two years. The temporary lull follows an agreement by Hamas and Israel to begin the first phase of President Donald Trump’s 20-point peace plan, which calls for Hamas to release all hostages and for Israel to free about 2,000 Palestinian prisoners and detainees. It is not Israel’s first cease-fire in the conflict nor the region. The country has paused fighting with Hamas several times over the past two years and brokered a separate deal with Hezbollah in Lebanon in late November 2024. The deal followed Israel’s months-long military campaign, in which Israeli forces pushed north, launching a ground operation into Lebanon that caused mass displacement, instability, and civilian casualties. Israel said the initiative was aimed at dismantling Hezbollah. The November 27 cease-fire agreement required Israel to withdraw its troops from southern Lebanon within 60 days and for Hezbollah to move its forces farther north. Israel requested more time to do so, and the deadline for Israel to remove its troops was extended. Israel has since struck Lebanon many times, with the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) telling Newsweek in an email that they documented almost 6,300 air violations, including almost 100 air attacks, and almost 950 “trajectories detected from South to North” since November 27. However, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have said their strikes are in response to Hezbollah violations. The IDF press team told Newsweek in an email Thursday that “the IDF operates in accordance with international law and takes all feasible measures to avoid harm to civilians.” Earlier this month, the IDF struck targets in the Beqaa Valley, saying, “The storage of weapons and military training conducted by Hezbollah terrorists against the State of Israel constitute a blatant violation of the understandings between Israel and Lebanon and pose a threat to the State of Israel.” Israel has been accused of many other violations in Lebanon, particularly in civilian areas, over the past few months, with the United Nations reporting that Israel has killed more than 100 civilians in Lebanon since the truce. The reported breaks in the truce raise questions about whether this Gaza ceasefire will be different. Israel-Hamas Ceasefire “The only real guarantee that this ceasefire will last is President Trump’s leverage on Israel to finally end the war in Gaza. Without that political will from Washington, implementation risks faltering as before,” Sami Nader, director of the Institute of Political Science in Beirut, told Newsweek. He added that the Gaza deal is a “major breakthrough,” a description echoed by much of the international community as Israelis, Palestinians and world leaders welcomed the announcement, many applauding Trump’s involvement. However, Nader noted that the “success will depend on whether it leads to a credible process of disarmament before governance and reconstruction, rather than just a pause before the next round of fighting.” Hanin Ghaddar, Friedmann senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, said in a phone interview with Newsweek on Friday that this “is not the same as previous ceasefires or attempts at a deal, this is different.” She added that Arab countries put heavy pressure on Hamas and “Israel was also under a lot of pressure by Trump.” Ghaddar noted that the “momentum” from Trump and Arab states in terms of external pressure will likely lead to more enforcement of the ceasefire in the first stage, however, she said, “it’s a ceasefire, it’s not yet a peace deal…and ceasefires are historically fragile; look at Lebanon.” Displaced Palestinians walk past destroyed buildings as they return to their homes in the Zeitoun neighborhood of Gaza City on October 10 after Israel and Hamas agreed to a pause in their war and the release of remaining hostages. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi) Hilal Khashan, a political science professor at the American University of Beirut, is weary of the ceasefire hold, telling Newsweek in an email, “Israel can use the same justifications it used against Hezbollah for targeting Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), especially refusing to disarm or attempt to rebuild their military infrastructure fully.” Khashan added: “Israel can also invoke the principle of self-defense—whether real or imagined—against Hamas and the PIJ [Palestine Islamic Jihad].” While many across the political spectrum have applauded the feat, which comes after Hamas took around 250 people hostage and killed 1,200 people on October 7, 2023, and Israel’s ground and air offensives in Gaza which displaced more than 2 million people and killed more than 67, ...