A Hezbollah flag hangs from a fence in Zawtar Gharbieh, July 25, 2026. (Credit: Aziz Taher/Reuters)
The Israeli military said Saturday that it killed several Hezbollah fighters in southern Lebanon and that an Israeli soldier was injured there despite a cease-fire.
The military said it identified several Hezbollah fighters overnight inside what it calls a "security zone" in southern Lebanon that Israeli forces occupy.
"Following the identification, the soldiers struck the terrorists and eliminated them in order to remove the threat," the military said in a statement.
It added that Israeli forces "will continue to operate to remove any threat to its soldiers and will not allow the Hezbollah terrorist organization to harm Israeli civilians."
An Israeli soldier was moderately injured and evacuated to a hospital for treatment, the military said earlier.
When contacted by AFP journalists in Beirut, Hezbollah did not comment. The Iran-backed group has not claimed any attacks since June 20.
A U.S.-brokered framework agreement signed by Lebanon and Israel in late June aims to end hostilities. Under the agreement, Lebanon's army is to disarm Hezbollah, while the Israeli military is to withdraw from the so-called "pilot zones" inside Lebanon, where Lebanese forces will subsequently deploy.
Hezbollah has repeatedly rejected the agreement and refuses to disarm, while there is no timetable for Israel's full withdrawal.
The agreement came more than three months after Hezbollah responded to a U.S.-Israeli strike on Iran, which killed the former supreme leader, with rocket attacks on Israel on March 2, prompting major Israeli airstrikes and a ground invasion.
While violence has declined since the signing of a preliminary U.S.-Iran agreement in June and the Lebanon-Israel framework agreement, Lebanon continues to report constant Israeli strikes and artillery shelling in the South.
Lebanon's army last week condemned ongoing Israeli military activities that it said were preventing its full deployment under the framework agreement.
