With Israel tanks on the ground, Lebanese unable to bury dead

When a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah came into effect last week, Lebanese hotelier, Abbas Al-Tannoukhi, leapt at the chance to bury a dead relative in their southern hometown of Khiyam, battered for weeks by intense clashes, Reuters reports.

Tannoukhi’s cousin had been killed in one of the final Israeli air strikes on Beirut’s suburbs before Wednesday’s ceasefire, which stipulated an end to fighting so residents on both sides of the border could return home.

But with Israeli troops still deployed in southern Lebanon, Tannoukhi coordinated his movements with Lebanon’s army. Last Friday, he and his relatives pulled into the family graveyard in Khiyam, six km (four miles) from the border, with an ambulance carrying his cousin’s body.

“We just needed 30 minutes (to bury her),” Tannoukhi, 54, said. “But we were surprised when Israeli tanks encircled us – and that’s when the gunfire started.”

Tannoukhi fled with his relatives on foot through the brush, wounding his hand as he scrambled between rocks and olive groves to reach safety at a checkpoint operated by Lebanese troops.

READ: Lebanese media reports massive explosion in southern Lebanon amid Israeli violations of ceasefire

Soon afterwards, they tried to reach the graveyard again but said they were fired on a second time. Shaky footage filmed by Tannoukhi features sprays of gunfire.

“We couldn’t bury her. We had to leave her body there in the ambulance. But we will try again,” he told Reuters.

The ordeal highlights the bitterness and confusion for residents of southern Lebanon who have been unable to return home because Israeli troops are still present on Lebanese territory.

Israel’s military has issued orders to residents of 60 southern Lebanese towns not to return home, saying they are prohibited from accessing their hometowns until further notice.

The US-brokered ceasefire deal grants both Lebanon and Israel the right to self-defence, but does not include provisions on a buffer zone or restrictions for residents.

“Why did we go back? Because there’s a ceasefire,” Tannoukhi said. “It’s a halt to hostilities. And it is a natural right for a son of the south to go to his house.”

The Israeli military did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Peace of mind 

The ceasefire brought an end to over a year of hostilities between Israel and Lebanese armed group, Hezbollah, which began firing rockets at Israeli military targets in 2023 in support of its Palestinian ally, Hamas, in Gaza.

Israel went on the offensive in September, bombing swathes of Lebanon’s south, east and the southern suburbs of Beirut. More than 1.2 million people fled their homes.

After the 60-day ceasefire came into effect last Wednesday, residents of Beirut’s suburbs returned home to vast destruction, and some Lebanese from the south were able to return to homes further away from the border.

But both sides began accusing each other of breaking the deal, with Israel saying suspicious movements in villages along the south constituted violations and Lebanon’s army pointing to Israeli tank fire and air strikes as breaches.

Mustafa Ibrahim Al-Sayyed, a father of 12, was hoping to return home to Beit Lif, about two km from the border.

But nearly a week into the ceasefire, he is still living at a displacement shelter near Tyre, a coastal city about 25 km from the border.

He tried to venture home alone last week, but as soon as he arrived, there was tank fire around the town and he received a warning on his phone that his town was in the Israeli military’s “no-go” zone.

Sayyed is still stuck in displacement and wants to get home.

“I hope we go back to our town so we can get peace of mind,” he said.

READ: FACTBOX – Number of Israeli ceasefire violations in Lebanon reaches 62, with 24 reported Saturday