Even before the first phase is completed, the fragile cease-fire agreement that has paused 15 months of war in Gaza between Israel and Hamas faces increasingly long odds of lasting or even reaching phase two.

Israeli troops fired on people trying to return home to southern Lebanon and delayed a return home for northern Gaza residents. Israel blamed Hezbollah and Hamas.

The war in Gaza has been devastating for children. According to U.N. agencies, more than 13,000 have been killed, an estimated 25,000 injured, and at least 25,000 hospitalized for malnutrition.

Israeli forces killed at least 22 people and injured dozens more in southern Lebanon on Sunday, Lebanese officials said. In Gaza, Israel said Hamas had violated the terms of the truce.

Any prolonged Israeli occupation of southern Lebanon could breathe new life into Hezbollah, a group that was founded to liberate Lebanon from Israeli occupation and has portrayed itself as the only force capable of protecting Lebanon’s borders,

Police thwart attack at Kalandiya crossing in West Bank • Israeli public split on war achievements • Israeli government approves hostage deal

Smotrich said he has received assurances that Israel will resume the war after the first phase, during which 33 hostages held in Gaza are to return home and hundreds of Palestinian prisoners are to be freed. The second phase, which must still be negotiated, is to work out an end to the war and return of all remaining hostages.

UN chief Guterres says Israel must withdraw from Lebanese territories BEIRUT — The U.N. chief says Israel must ... said early Friday that a deal to return hostages held in the Gaza Strip has been reached. The announcement came a day after Netanyahu ...

Even before the ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas was fully in place, Palestinians in the war-battered Gaza Strip began to return ... writer Abby Sewell in Beirut contributed to this report.

Jean-Pierre Lacroix spoke to the U.N. Security Council in a video briefing from Beirut on Friday ... assume full responsibility” in the Gaza Strip, according to a statement reported by the ...

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF IDF troops operate in the Gaza Strip. November 7 ... By JERUSALEM POST STAFF Smoke rises over Dahiyeh in Beirut's southern suburbs, after an Israeli strike.