More than 800,000 displaced Lebanese returning home after war: UN

More than 800,000 people displaced by Israeli attacks on Lebanon have begun returning to their hometowns following a lull in violence amid the Israel-Hezbollah war, the United Nations said.

The announcement late on Tuesday came as Lebanon and Israel began a new round of U.S.-sponsored talks in Rome aimed at ending the fighting, which are scheduled to run until Thursday.

U.N. humanitarian agency OCHA said "821,077 people had begun the return to their areas of origin as of July 30," but added that more than 360,000 remained displaced, around 26,000 of them in government shelters.

Israeli attacks have killed more than 4,300 people and displaced more than a million since the war began on March 2, according to the Health Ministry. Israel still occupied around 600 kilometers of Lebanese territory.

Violence has decreased since the signing in June of a preliminary U.S.-Iran agreement on the wider regional war, which includes a cease-fire in Lebanon, and following a U.S.-sponsored deal between Israel and Lebanon.

Israel has continued attacks on Lebanon, including air strikes and detonations of explosives and demolitions in southern villages it occupies.

OCHA said Israeli-caused damage to water and electricity infrastructure has severely affected access to water for more than 700,000 people in south Lebanon, home to most of those displaced.

During negotiations in Washington in June, Israel and Lebanon agreed to a framework deal that involves the disarmament of Hezbollah, a gradual withdrawal of occupying Israeli forces from Lebanon's south and the deployment of the Lebanese Army to the region, starting in test areas known as "pilot zones."

But Hezbollah has rejected the agreement and refuses to disarm, with leader Naim Qassem saying the direct negotiations will bring "nothing but shame, humiliation, and successive compromises" for Lebanon.