Southern Lebanon weighs losses from Israeli strikes as ceasefire hangs by a thread

[0:00] Israel and Lebanon have agreed to a ceasefire for another three weeks, [0:04] but even as that extension was being negotiated, the truce has been unraveling on the ground. [0:09] That's with multiple violations by both Israel and the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah. [0:15] Special correspondent Simona Fultin reports now from southern Lebanon. [0:21] The people of Aitid have returned to bury their dead. [0:25] The temporary ceasefire is hanging by a thread, [0:28] but it has given villagers in southern Lebanon a brief window to come home. [0:32] And take stock of all that's been lost to Israeli bombs. [0:35] Lubna Sleiman mourns her brother, Hassan Sleiman, a civil defense worker. [0:41] He is just one of a hundred first responders killed by the Israeli military. [0:49] There's nothing Israel won't target. [0:51] They don't spare first responders. They don't spare children. [0:57] He was a medic who was rescuing people who were dying and he was hit. [1:01] What is the reason? They were clearly marked as an ambulance. [1:07] Hassan, seen here in the picture to the left, was killed alongside his colleague Yusef Ali Atawi. [1:13] Israel targeted their ambulance on March 23rd, [1:16] but until the ceasefire came into force last week, heavy fighting made it impossible to bury them. [1:22] Yusef's wife, now widow, is pregnant with their first child. [1:26] I spoke to her sister, Maryam. [1:29] My sister is expecting a baby, her first son. [1:33] We are very angry. [1:34] Yusef was moving the injured and evacuating the people of the village. [1:39] He was also working as a mechanic. [1:41] He had nothing to do with the fighting. [1:43] Israel killed more than 2,000 Lebanese during 45 days of war. [1:47] 18 people, including civilians and Hezbollah fighters, are being laid to rest in this village alone. [1:53] The coffins are carried down to the graveyard to the sound of gunfire, an expression of grief, but also defiance. [2:02] We will not accept humiliation, the mourners chant in an enduring battle cry as old as Shiite faith itself. [2:09] For many here, Hezbollah, what they call the resistance, is waging a righteous struggle against injustice. [2:15] We are the resistance. [2:18] We will defend our land until our last breath. [2:20] It's impossible that we'll back down. [2:22] It's about our dignity. [2:24] These communities reject their government's decision to hold direct talks of Israel, which demands that Hezbollah be disarmed. [2:30] We can't hand in our weapons because there's no one else to defend us. [2:34] If we handed in our weapons and made peace with Israel, we know that we would be humiliated. [2:38] This land was never theirs, not in Palestine, not in Lebanon. [2:42] Israel has made no sign of withdrawing from Lebanese land. [2:46] Following the ceasefire, an IDF spokesperson published a map that appears to delineate areas it plans to occupy indefinitely. [2:54] The Israeli military has prohibited civilians from returning to dozens of villages south of what it calls a forward defense line. [3:03] We drove right up to this new de facto border. [3:06] In the village of Hadassah, six miles north of the Israeli border, is as far as the Lebanese army has deployed. [3:14] South of here is dangerous, we are told. [3:17] South of here, the ceasefire does not apply. [3:20] This is the furthest Lebanese army checkpoint to the south. [3:23] The Israeli military is stationed just a few miles down that road in the town of Bento Jebel. [3:29] There is an Israeli drone above our heads. [3:32] And in the few minutes that we've been here, we've heard several explosions. [3:36] The Lebanese army is telling us that these are controlled detonations carried out by the IDF. [3:41] So this means that despite the ceasefire, the Israeli military continues to demolish infrastructure in Lebanon's south. [3:48] The same day, just two miles down the road, the IDF killed two Lebanese civilians as well as veteran Lebanese correspondent Amal Khalil. [3:57] Such strikes have sent a chilling message to journalists and civilians to stay away from Israel's forbidden zone. [4:05] Yusuf Fahad Saleh and his family have little hope to return anytime soon. [4:10] Their border village of Aitah Shab is once again in Israeli hands. [4:14] It's the fourth occupation since he was born. [4:16] The only updates he gets are from news reports posted by Israeli media or the IDF. [4:26] Seeing this, of course, causes you heartbreak. [4:29] The enemy is there. [4:30] They entered and destroyed the land that I grew up on, land I've lived on. [4:35] It gives you determination to defend and reclaim your land. [4:41] Even towns a bit further north that are under Lebanese control remain practically abandoned. [4:48] Only about a third of the population have returned to Jubeil al-Bottom, the village chief tells me. [4:55] Everything is gone. [4:57] There's no electricity. [4:58] There's no water. [4:59] No phone networks. [5:01] They hit it during the previous war. [5:03] It was repaired. [5:04] But during this war, we lost a lot of infrastructure. [5:06] People here are scared that Israel might strike anywhere, anytime. [5:14] We are sitting here. [5:16] We don't know if we should stay or leave. [5:18] Israel doesn't differentiate between civilians and fighters. [5:21] This has really affected people, in addition to the damage that has been inflicted on their houses. [5:26] Hezbollah has made it clear it will not accept a one-sided ceasefire. [5:30] Responding to repeated Israeli violations, the group has claimed responsibility for 10 attacks on Israeli troops, [5:38] both inside Lebanon and in northern Israel. [5:41] The ceasefire may have been extended, but for the people of the South, it's a ceasefire only in name. [5:48] For the PBS NewsHour, I'm Simona Fultin in southern Lebanon. 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