Israeli strike kills one in south Lebanon despite truce

Lebanese state media said an Israeli strike on a motorcycle in the south killed one person on Friday, despite the start of a 10-day ceasefire in the Israel-Hezbollah war.

The truce, announced by U.S. President Donald Trump, went into force at midnight (Thursday 2100 GMT), seeking to end more than six weeks of war that have killed nearly 2,300 people in Lebanon and displaced more than a million.

"A motorcyclist was killed in the town of Kounine, in the Bint Jbeil district, after being targeted by an enemy drone," Lebanon's state-run National News Agency reported.

Under the terms of the truce, Israel reserves the right to continue targeting Hezbollah to prevent "planned, imminent or ongoing attacks".

Israel also said it will maintain a 10-kilometer (six-mile) security zone along the border in southern Lebanon.

The ceasefire agreement makes no mention of an Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon.

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said the area between this security zone and the Litani River, located around 30 kilometers (20 miles) north of Israel, had not yet been "cleared of terrorists and weapons", and that if diplomatic pressure did not achieve that goal, then military action could resume.

However, Trump said on his Truth Social network that "Israel will not be bombing Lebanon any longer. They are PROHIBITED from doing so by the U.S.A. Enough is enough!!!"

After a November 2024 ceasefire that sought to end the previous war between Hezbollah and Israel, the latter continued to bomb Lebanon, usually saying it was targeting Hezbollah.