The Israeli military prison Ofer, in the occupied West Bank, on Nov. 25, 2023. (Credit: AFP/Edit by Celine Bejjani/L’Orient Today)
Jan. 26, 2025, south Lebanon — the Israeli army was supposed to withdraw from the border villages it still occupied, as stipulated in the cease-fire agreement signed two months earlier, but refused to do so.
Southerners and others from all over Lebanon moved towards the still-occupied villages to reach home. But Israel had other plans. A day meant for 'return' turned into a bloodbath.
Israeli gunfire that day killed 22 people and injured 124 others. The following day, two more people were killed by Israeli soldiers, who also wounded about 20 others.
The Israeli army refused to withdraw from most villages until Feb. 18, 2025, and still occupies at least five positions to this day.
But even before its withdrawal, another tragedy had already unfolded. Several Lebanese were abducted by Israeli soldiers, joining others taken during the war.
While some detainees were released within days, others remain held in Israeli prisons. In total, 20 Lebanese are still detained in Israeli prisons, including nine captured after the start of the truce on Nov. 27, 2024, while the fate of several others remains unknown.
A list of 20 prisoners
On Dec. 12, 2025, President Joseph Aoun received a delegation from the Lebanese Association of Prisoners and Released Persons, accompanied by Hezbollah MP Hussein Hajj Hassan. The group presented the president with a list of 20 prisoners, including 11 captured during the war.
The accuracy of the list, which circulated on social media and in the press, was confirmed to L’Orient Today by several official sources. According to a Hezbollah source, among the 11 prisoners taken during the war, “nine are fighters.”
The association also includes among the 11 civilians maritime captain Imad Amhaz, abducted in November 2024 in Batroun during a clandestine operation by an Israeli commando. In purported videos filmed and released by the Israeli army, Amhaz claims to be a Hezbollah member during his questioning.
According to the association and the Hezbollah source, the fate of 38 individuals remains “unknown” since the war. “They could be in prison in Israel, killed or their bodies being held hostage,” said Ahmad Taleb, head of the association.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), which met with Aoun in November, told L’Orient Today that it still “has not had access to detention sites in Israel.”
“We have requested this repeatedly and continue to do so,” ICRC said.
'Israel is absolutely uncooperative'
The issue is the responsibility of the cease-fire monitoring committee — known as the 'Mechanism' — made up of representatives from Lebanon, the United States, Israel, France and U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), according to a government source.
Lebanese officials demand the release of the prisoners, alongside the complete withdrawal of Israeli forces from occupied areas and an end to its attacks on Lebanon. “But so far, Israel is absolutely uncooperative,” the source said.
Israel has not provided information or updates about any prisoner, except Amhaz's released video.
Families remain in the dark. Some have obtained information through four Lebanese detainees released from Israeli prisons on March 11, 2025, as a “goodwill gesture” toward the newly elected president, Aoun.
Palestinian detainees released under the Hamas-Israel cease-fire agreement of Oct. 10 also helped some families in their search for more information.
“A year later, there are still Lebanese people who don't know there are prisoners in Israel,” said Fatima Karaki, whose brother, Hussein, was abducted by the Israeli army on Jan. 26 in Markaba (Marjayoun).
On the association’s list submitted to the presidency, three names stand out. They have reportedly been held in Israeli prisons for more than 20 years: Yahya Skaff, a Fatah member captured in Israel in 1978 after participating in an attack near Tel Aviv that year; Abdallah Alyan, abducted in 1981 from his home in Bayada (Sour); and Mohammad Faran, captured in 2005 off the coast of Naqoura (Sour).