In Lebanon There Is No Ceasefire – But Lesser Fire.

Beirut; May 2026: China’s envoy Fu Chong has reiterated to the United Nations that there is no real ceasefire in place between Israel and Lebanon, only a “lesser fire”. He further asserted, “It is incumbent on Israel to stop this bombardment of Lebanon”, at the UN’s headquarters in New York yesterday (01st May local time; 02nd May IST), as China assumed the rotating presidency of the UN Security Council for May.

The number of people killed in Israeli attacks on southern Lebanon has again increased, with at least 44 people killed in the last two days alone, according to Lebanon’s National News Agency. The death toll from Israeli attacks since the start of the renewed war on March 02nd has now risen to at least 2,618 people, Lebanon’s Health Ministry said yesterday.

Meanwhile, the head of the Israeli military, Eyal Zamir, has affirmed that in southern Lebanon, there is effectively no ceasefire. According to him, Israel is still trying to abide by it for the rest of the country.

On the otherside, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is coming under intense pressure from all quarters now to abandon the ceasefire. The majority of the Israeli public is against it. The opposition is against the ceasefire. And all week, the army has been saying they are ready to reengage, to broaden the conflict if they get the green light.

Yesterday, on the International Labour Day, senior officers were briefing multiple Israeli media outlets that they were frustrated, that they believe the ceasefire was causing harm for Israeli soldiers, who are seeing daily injuries now from these first-person view fibre-optic cable drones increasingly used by Hezbollah.

But in contrary, the army says that unless they can attack deep into Lebanon to try and particularly target the production facilities of these drones, they don’t really have a defence for them at the moment, so they need to broaden the campaign to do that. As demonstrated once again Israel was found to have exploded white phosphorus fired by Israeli forces in southern Lebanon yesterday early in the day.

Yesterday (01st May) Israeli forces have killed at least 12 people, including a child, in southern Lebanon, as Israel continues its strikes despite a ceasefire. The forces killed at least 08 people in Habboush in the Nabatieh district, and has wounded at least 08 others, including a child and a woman.

Israel issued a forced evacuation order to residents in Habboush on Friday, which is located north of the Litani River. The military’s Arabic-language spokesperson, Avichay Adraee, told people to immediately move at least 1,000 metres away in a post on social media before strikes struck the village. It also attacked the town a day earlier without giving any warning. Israel has claimed that its attacks target the pro-Iran Lebanese group Hezbollah, but a large proportion of those killed have been civilians.

Lebanon’s Ministry of Public Health’s Emergency Operations Center reported yesterday that 2,618 people have been killed and 8,094 wounded since hostilities began on March 02nd. The death toll continues to climb despite the US-brokered ceasefire that was announced on April 17 and has been extended to May 17.

Israel and Hezbollah began attacking each other in the wake of the beginning of Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza in October 2023, and had intensified its attacks in September 2024, killing the movement’s longtime leader Hassan Nasrallah. A ceasefire followed in November 2024, which was violated by Israel more than 10,000 times. Hezbollah began attacking Israel again on March 2, following the killing of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei by the US and Israel.

Team Maverick.