Lebanon's disaster management unit has raised the official death toll from weeks of Israeli military operations to 2,454, with more than 7,600 people wounded. The figures were confirmed during a fragile 10-day ceasefire brokered by the United States — but the truce is already showing signs of strain, as Hezbollah claimed its first retaliatory strike since the pause began, firing rockets and attack drones at a site in northern Israel it said was the source of artillery shelling on a south Lebanese town.

In Tyre — the largest city in southern Lebanon, a Mediterranean coastal city of more than 150,000 people known for its Phoenician ruins and beaches — residents are struggling to believe the ceasefire will hold. In the final minutes before the truce came into effect, Israeli strikes levelled four residential buildings in the city centre, killing around twenty people. "The only objective of Israel is to fill the hearts of the Lebanese with terror," said Abbas Awad, a civil defence paramedic based in Tyre. Residents describe the strikes as something new: Tyre was widely considered a relatively safe zone in previous conflicts. "We did not expect the enemy to destroy an entire neighbourhood in this wonderful city, where there is nothing of military value," Awad said. In occupied villages near the southern border, reports indicate Israeli forces have demolished buildings in a controlled manner, set fire to ambulances, blown up a mosque and a cemetery, and destroyed a school — actions that Lebanon's parliament speaker Nabih Berri, leader of the Amal Movement and a Hezbollah ally, warned would be met with resistance if Israeli troops do not withdraw.

Diplomatically, Lebanon has turned to France as it prepares for possible direct negotiations with Israel, to be hosted by the United States. Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said the country needs €500 million over the next six months to address the humanitarian crisis. French President Emmanuel Macron, meeting Salam in Paris, pledged support in helping Lebanon strengthen its negotiating position, while clarifying that France would not insert itself directly into what are inherently bilateral talks. The US is set to host ambassador-level contacts between Lebanon and Israel this week, though it remains unclear whether the aim is to extend the ceasefire or lay groundwork for broader negotiations.

The broader international response is intensifying. Belgian Foreign Minister Maxime Prevot called Israel's conduct in Lebanon "totally unacceptable" and disproportionate, and said Belgium is pushing for at least a partial suspension of the EU's Association Agreement with Israel. Israel's Defence Minister Israel Katz, meanwhile, reiterated that the campaign's "overarching goal" is the disarmament of Hezbollah through a combination of military and diplomatic pressure. Hezbollah, for its part, is demanding that Lebanese President Joseph Aoun withdraw from negotiations with Israel altogether, describing any talks as "submission."

For ordinary Lebanese, the ceasefire offers little comfort. Farmers returning to border villages near the frontier describe scenes of total devastation after fifteen months of near-continuous bombardment. "It is not a question of a couple of days, but of fifteen consecutive months of attacks," said Haidar Rasheed Said, a 56-year-old farmer from Majdal Zoun, a village five kilometres from the Israeli border. In Tyre, an unnamed resident who lost a friend in the last-minute strikes before the truce captured a wider exhaustion: "Israel, Hezbollah… every ten years we are in the same place. Why? For what?"