Amid ceasefire with Lebanon, Israel says ‘not yet finished the job’ against Hezbollah

Israel has not yet finished dealing with Hezbollah, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says, vowing to press on with the Lebanese militant group’s “dismantling” just hours after a 10-day ceasefire came into effect, AFP reports.

“Today’s Hezbollah is a shadow of its former self compared to the heyday of [Hassan] Nasrallah,” he said of the group’s leader, who was assassinated by Israel in 2024.

“But we haven’t yet finished the job. There are things we plan to do to address the remaining rocket threat and the drone threat,” Netanyahu adds.

Israel’s other objective, the “dismantling of Hezbollah”, wouldn’t be “achieved overnight,” he says, warning it would require “a sustained effort, patience and perseverance, along with skilful diplomatic manoeuvring.”

Netanyahu adds Israel’s operation had “removed” two threats from Lebanon.

“A near threat involving the infiltration of thousands of terrorists and anti-tank fire onto our communities and a distant threat … of 150,000 missiles and rockets to destroy Israel’s cities,” he says.

Lebanon's army reported "acts of aggression" by Israel that it said violated a ceasefire which took effect at midnight Friday local time.

Lebanon's army in an X post early on Friday called on residents in the south to exercise caution "in light of a number of violations" of the ceasefire agreement by "several Israeli acts of aggression."

Gunfire erupted in Beirut's southern suburbs as a ceasefire with Israel came into effect at midnight on Friday (2100 GMT Thursday), according to AFP journalists and AFPTV footage.

State media also reported "heavy gunfire" accompanying the start of the 10-day truce, announced earlier by US President Donald Trump.

AFP journalists heard shots rang out and RPGs erupting into the air shortly after midnight and continuing for well over half an hour, as red bullet traces took off into the sky.

AFPTV footage showed people returning to the city's southern suburbs, a Hezbollah stronghold, some waving the Iran-backed movement's yellow flag or carrying portraits of its slain leader Hassan Nasrallah, killed by Israel in 2024.

Videos circulating on social media showed queues of cars in several areas in the south as displaced residents returned to their homes. Lebanese authorities say the war has displaced more than one million people.

Hezbollah earlier on Thursday called on Lebanese residents to postpone their return to the country's south, the Bekaa valley, and Beirut's southern suburbs, "until the situation becomes completely clear".

The Hezbollah-affiliated Islamic Health Committee, in a statement, also advised people to wait "until you are certain that a ceasefire has been officially declared and has come into effect" and urged people to "wait until morning" before taking to the roads.

The army command also called on citizens to heed instructions of Lebanese soldiers deployed in the south, where Israeli troops have invaded across the border, and to beware of unexploded ordnance and "suspicious objects".

Lebanese state media said "despite the passage of about half an hour after the ceasefire came into effect, the artillery of the enemy Israeli army is still shelling the towns of Khiam and Debbine, in conjunction with combing operations with machine guns in the area."

Scenes of celebration are seen on roads in southern Lebanon as people begin returning home after a 10-day ceasefire with Israel took effect.

Israeli forces had continued strikes in the south until midnight, when the ceasefire began. pic.twitter.com/7XP9SyY1mB

— Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish) April 17, 2026

10-day ceasefire takes effect

A ten-day ceasefire deal agreed between Lebanon and Israel took effect on Friday, as US President Donald Trump said he was trying to set up the first-ever face-to-face meeting between the leaders of the two countries.

The truce, which Trump said would begin at midnight local time in Lebanon and Israel (2100 GMT), comes as Washington steps up efforts to reach a deal to end the war with Iran, with Tehran insisting a Lebanon truce must be part of any agreement.

Israeli strikes in Lebanon have so far killed more than 2,000 people and displaced more than one million, while Israeli ground forces have invaded the country's south.

As the ceasefire came into force, Israel's military said it had struck over 380 "Hezbollah terror organization targets in southern Lebanon" and was on "high alert" to resume strikes.

The US leader said the deal to halt hostilities came after "excellent" phone calls with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Lebanese President Joseph Aoun. "These two leaders have agreed that in order to achieve PEACE between their Countries, they will formally begin a 10 Day CEASEFIRE at 5 P.M. EST," or 2100 GMT, Trump said on his Truth Social platform.

He later said he expected Netanyahu and Aoun to visit the White House "over the next four or five days".

A top-level face-to-face meeting between the Lebanese and Israeli leadership would be a watershed moment for the region.

- 'Very happy' -

In Beirut, housewife Jamal Shehab, 61, applauded the truce. "We are very happy that a ceasefire has been reached in Lebanon because we are tired of war and we want safety and peace," she said.

Sitting at a cafe in Beirut, lawyer Tarek Bou Khalil told AFP that "it's well known Trump cannot be taken at his word, and Netanyahu cannot be trusted".

"But we know that the result of the pressures of the war with Iran and the blunders of Netanyahu and the enemy army in south Lebanon, forced them into a ceasefire," he added.

Trump spoke about the ceasefire with reporters as he left the White House for a trip to Las Vegas.

"It's very exciting," Trump said in response to a question from an AFP reporter. "Today they're going to be having a ceasefire, and that'll include Hezbollah."

Trump later said Lebanon would "take care of Hezbollah", adding that he believed the Tehran-backed group would stick to the ceasefire.

A Hezbollah lawmaker told AFP it would "cautiously adhere" to the ceasefire if Israel stopped attacks. Ibrahim al-Moussawi thanked Iran for having applied pressure in Lebanon's favour -- adding that "the ceasefire would not have happened without Iran considering the ceasefire as equal to closing the Strait of Hormuz."

Netanyahu said Israel agreed to the truce but will maintain a ten-kilometre (six-mile) "security zone" along the border in southern Lebanon. He added that Israel maintained two conditions for the ceasefire: Hezbollah's disarmament, and a lasting peace agreement "based on strength."

Lebanon’s residents say they are wary of trusting that Israel will abide by the ceasefire agreement announced by US President Donald Trump.

Al Jazeera’s @JustinSalhani reports from Beirut where residents tell him they are not celebrating. pic.twitter.com/P6b5GJecZA

— Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish) April 16, 2026

UN chief urges 'respect' for ceasefire

United Nations chief Antonio Guterres welcomed the 10-day ceasefire announced Thursday between Israel and Lebanon, and urged "all actors" to fully respect the truce, his spokesman said.

"The Secretary-General welcomes the announcement of a 10-day ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon, and commends the role of the United States in facilitating" it, Guterres spokesman Stephane Dujarric said in a statement, adding he hoped the temporary halt to fighting would "pave the way for negotiations."

Guterres "urges all actors to fully respect the ceasefire and to comply with their obligations under international law, including international humanitarian law, at all times," he said, a statement that may extend beyond Israel and Lebanon to the militant group Hezbollah.

Iran welcomes ceasefire agreement

Iran's foreign ministry welcomed on Thursday the truce agreed between Israel and Lebanon, calling it part of the earlier two-week ceasefire deal struck between the Islamic republic and the United States to pause the Middle East war, state media reported.

Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei "welcomed the announcement of the ceasefire in Lebanon and noted that the cessation of the war in Lebanon was part of the ceasefire understanding between Iran and the United States, mediated by Pakistan", state news agency IRNA posted on Telegram.

Saudi Arabia also welcomes

Saudi Arabia's foreign ministry on Thursday welcomed US President Donald Trump's announcement of a ceasefire in Lebanon, where Israel has been fighting militant group Hezbollah since last month.

"The Ministry of Foreign Affairs expressed the Kingdom's welcome of the announcement by... Trump of a ceasefire in brotherly Lebanon. It also commended the significant positive role played by President Joseph Aoun of the Lebanese Republic, the Lebanese government headed by Prime Minister Nawaf Salam and Speaker of Parliament Nabih Berri," state news agency SPA reported.

- Trump hopes Hezbollah 'acts nicely' -

US President Donald Trump said Thursday he hopes Hezbollah "acts nicely and well" during the 10-day ceasefire reached hours earlier between Lebanon and Israel.

"I hope Hezbollah acts nicely and well during this important period of time," Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform as he arrived for a speech in Las Vegas, saying it would be a "GREAT moment for them if they do. No more killing. Must finally have PEACE!"

- Israel, Hezbollah exchange fire before truce -

Israel's emergency service, Magen David Adom, said in a statement that two people were wounded, one of them seriously, in Karmiel and Nahariya after rocket fire in northern Israel as the army and Iran-backed Hezbollah exchanged new cross-border fire shortly before the truce was due to take effect.

- Iran to hand over enriched uranium? -

Trump said Iran has agreed to hand over its store of enriched uranium and that the two sides were "close" to a peace deal ending six weeks of conflict. "They've agreed to give us back the nuclear dust," Trump told reporters at the White House, using his name for the enriched uranium stockpile that the United States says could be used to build nuclear weapons.

The US military has released a recording of a navy destroyer diverting a ship in the Gulf of Oman, amid a US-imposed naval blockade on Iranian ports. pic.twitter.com/wfMQsCVZrY

— Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish) April 17, 2026

- Israeli strike kills seven -

An Israeli strike on the southern Lebanese town of Ghazieh has killed at least seven people and wounded 33, the health ministry said, hours before the ceasefire between the two countries went into effect.

Lebanese state media reported a "massacre against civilians" in the town, noting that rubble removal operations were ongoing, while the health ministry said its toll is "preliminary and not final".