Lebanon's interior ministry issued a statement urging civilians to stay away
from their homes until army engineers could inspect them for unexploded cluster
bombs or artillery. At least one child was killed and 15 people were wounded
Monday by ordnance that exploded as they returned to their homes in south
Lebanon, security officials said.
Northern Israel remained virtually empty in comparison. The streets of Haifa,
Israel's third-largest town, which has been peppered by Hezbollah missiles, were
quieter than normal.
Restaurant owner Ronen Ginsburg said the cease-fire "doesn't make an
impression on anyone. ... It will take about a week without a Katyusha rocket
for people to go back to their routine."
More than half the 22,000 residents of the border town of Kiryat Shemona had
fled in the fighting, and those who remained stayed holed up in their homes.
Only a few businesses - most selling food - opened for a few hours.
"People are still scared," said Haim Biton, 42. "You don't know what's going
to happen."
Fighting had remained fierce right up to the implementation of the
cease-fire. Early Monday, Israeli warplanes struck a Hezbollah stronghold in
eastern Lebanon and a Palestinian refugee camp in the south, killing two people,
and Israeli artillery pounded targets across the border through the night.
The airstrikes continued until 15 minutes before the truce went into force,
destroying an antenna for Hezbollah's Al-Manar television southeast of Beirut.
Israel's army said seven soldiers were killed on Sunday, a day after 24 died
in the highest single-day death toll for the army since the conflict began.
Hezbollah reported one of its fighters killed, but did not say when.
Also Sunday, Israeli warplanes attacked gas stations in the southern port
city of Tyre on Sunday, killing at least 15 people, Lebanese officials said.
Two Israeli air raids on houses in the eastern village of Brital killed at
least eight people and wounded nearly two dozen, civil defense official Ali
Shukur said. More people were feared trapped under the rubble, he said.
Israeli jets also pounded a Hezbollah stronghold in south Beirut with at
least 23 missiles, most coming in a two-minute period. An Associated Press
photographer who reached the area saw the body of a child being removed from the
wreckage.
Hezbollah fired 250 rockets Sunday, killing an Israeli man and wounding 53
people, rescue officials said. Cars were set afire in the northern city of
Haifa.
Before the cease-fire went into effect, Israeli aircraft dropped leaflets on
central Beirut, warning it will retaliate against any attack launched on it from
Lebanon. More than 4,000 Hezbollah rockets reached deep into northern
Israel - including the vital port of Haifa - and forced thousands of
Israelis to flee or pack bomb shelters during the fighting.
One leaflet said Hezbollah serves the interests of its Iranian and Syrian
patrons and has "brought destruction, Lebanon against the State of Israel."
Addressed to Lebanon's citizens, it said, "Will you be able to pay this price
again?"
