Israeli gunfire killed two people in the southern Lebanese town of Nabatieh al-Fawqa on Tuesday, the first confirmed deaths since a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah took effect on Saturday. Lebanon’s health ministry and civil defence said the two men were struck while standing near an excavator clearing a road. Hezbollah denounced the shooting as a “blatant violation” of the truce and a “treacherous attack”. The Israeli military stated its forces fired on armed individuals who posed an immediate threat in a declared security zone near the Ali al-Taher ridge, and separately struck a cell of “armed terrorists” operating close to soldiers. The incident interrupted the longest lull in hostilities since the war ignited on 2 March, when Hezbollah opened fire on Israel in support of Tehran.

Hezbollah did not announce an immediate military response. Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, Ali Bahreini, told reporters that any breach of the Lebanon memorandum of understanding would “create challenges for peace talks” and insisted Washington “should use all its leverage against Israel to make it stop attacks”. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said a day earlier that troops retained full freedom of action to thwart any direct or emerging threat and would remain in Lebanon “for as long as is necessary”. In Beirut, President Joseph Aoun, speaking as a fifth round of direct Lebanon-Israel negotiations opened in Washington, rejected both the Israeli occupation and foreign tutelage—an allusion to Iranian influence—and expressed hope the talks would be “decisive” for restoring full sovereignty.

The ceasefire is embedded in a broader US-Iran interim deal that requires an immediate and permanent cessation of hostilities on all fronts, including Lebanon. Mediators Pakistan and Qatar announced on Monday that Washington and Tehran had agreed to establish a “de-confliction cell” to limit flare-ups. Viewed from Tehran, the Lebanon front is an “unquestionable part of the agreement”, and its stability is a precondition for progress in the wider negotiations. Lebanese officials, under US pressure, are attempting to separate the bilateral track with Israel from the US-Iran framework, accusing Tehran of using their country as a bargaining chip. The UN peacekeeping force Unifil confirmed it had observed no launches, strikes or interceptions since Sunday, marking more than two days without such activity before Tuesday’s shooting.

The war has killed more than 4,100 people in Lebanon, including 773 women, children and healthcare workers, according to the Lebanese health ministry, and displaced 1.2 million. Israel reports at least 32 soldiers and four civilians dead. Israeli forces remain deployed deep inside southern Lebanon, and Tuesday’s fatality, alongside drone overflights of Beirut’s southern suburbs and stun grenades fired in several border villages, underscores the fragility of the arrangement. The fifth round of Lebanon-Israel talks is underway in Washington, while French President Emmanuel Macron discussed post-Unifil plans with Aoun. The durability of the ceasefire now hinges on whether the de-confliction cell can prevent further incidents and whether the diplomatic process yields a permanent halt to hostilities.