Naqoura, southern Lebanon – Dressed in an olive green jacket and jeans, municipal head Abbas Awada stood next to the remains of the family home where he lived with his wife and two children for the last 15 years.
The soft-spoken, charismatic, 40-something Awada used to welcome town residents in the family home and host big family gatherings with his wife.
The house survived more than a year of war, including a 66-day invasion, which saw Israeli air raids destroy much of Lebanon’s infrastructure.
It was after a ceasefire between Israel and the Lebanese group Hezbollah began in November that Israeli forces demolished the home where Awada’s children had grown up.
From the time Hezbollah and Israel began fighting on October 8, 2023, until a ceasefire began on November 27, 2024, Israel killed nearly 4,000 people and left waves of devastation across Lebanon, particularly in the south.
And, despite the ceasefire, the Israeli military has continued to attack Lebanon.
A ‘ceasefire’ in name only?
According to the ceasefire agreement, which was initially set to last 60 days, Hezbollah was supposed to retreat north of the Litani River, which runs across south Lebanon. Israel was also required to withdraw its troops from Lebanon and the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) were to take over the south.
Many in Lebanon believed the ceasefire would bring an end to Israeli attacks. But Israel has kept attacking, justifying its actions as trying to “dismantle and destroy” Hezbollah, a self-declared aim.
Among its actions was deliberately destroying homes in southern villages like Naqoura, devastating people who fled the violence and were hoping to return to their houses when it stopped.
“I still see it as it was,” Awada said softly, looking at his home.
He pointed at the entrance and described the house’s layout. Where he said the kitchen and dining room once stood was a pile of concrete and steel – an Israeli bulldozer had toppled his home’s walls.
A television still stood among the wreckage, mounted on an exposed living room wall and riddled with bullet holes.
“They just wanted to destroy,” he said.
He has not taken his children, aged 11 and 14, to see the ruins yet.
Legal Agenda, a Beirut-based nonprofit research and advocacy organisation, found that Israel committed more than 855 ceasefire violations by late January.
Ameneh Mehvar, a Middle East senior analyst for ACLED, an organisation that collects data on conflict, told Al Jazeera that it had recorded “over 330 air strike and shelling incidents” since the ceasefire.
A withdrawal that wasn’t
Naqoura, which lies right on the southern Lebanese border, had sustained serious damage during the war but had not been invaded by the time the ceasefire began.
In mid-December, Israeli troops entered Naqoura and reports began to emerge that they were destroying homes and buildings there and in other villages in south Lebanon.
The Israeli withdrawal was supposed to be completed by January 26. But despite rejections from Lebanon’s government, the Israelis announced – with the backing of the United States – that their presence would be extended until February 18.
On Monday, Israel announced it would “leave small amounts of troops deployed temporarily in five strategic points” in Lebanon.
The Israelis did withdraw from Naqoura in early January, allowing residents to see what was left of their village and homes after the random violence that befell them.
‘They used bulldozers for revenge’
On a winding street behind Naqoura’s municipality building, 75-year-old Ali Shaabi is still mourning his fruit trees and the deliberate damage that befell them.
He stepped nimbly over rubble to get to his garden, explaining that he had not stopped watering his trees until he had to evacuate.
“I didn’t leave them,” he said, a cigarette and his yellow lighter never leaving his hands.
Plump grapefruits hang from one tree but a mango tree lies on the ground near it. It had been torn out of the ground by Israeli soldiers during the ceasefire, strategic objective unknown.
Standing on the front porch of the charred home he used to live in with his wife, children and grandchildren, he explained that it had been set on fire, with the upstairs now unreachable because the stairs had been destroyed.
Shaabi had stayed behind in the house when the rest of his family fled to Tyre during the war. Civil defence workers finally evacuated him last September when Israeli attacks on Lebanon intensified, and he went to join his family.
His house was fine when he left it, he explains, and was damaged only during the ceasefire. Now the basement and upper floors are charred, and the entire structure has to be supported by pylons.
“They got bulldozers,” he said. “They came into Naqoura with bulldozers, for revenge.”
The family had even found some of their clothing shot to bits, presumably hung up by Israeli soldiers and shot at.
Naqoura is a predominantly Shia town, a demographic among which Hezbollah traditionally enjoys a great deal of support. In fact, Hezbollah flags were planted in the rubble of some of Naqoura’s destroyed buildings.
Regardless, the destruction of homes and civilian infrastructure is prohibited under international law, and many Lebanese viewed it as an indiscriminate punishment against Shia communities across Lebanon.
“Not everyone is Hezbollah,” Shaabi said. “Shia are not always Hezbollah.”
‘I miss my village’
Getting news on whether your home was still standing was difficult during the war but some villagers, like Reem Taher, figured out how to pay for regular satellite images of their neighbourhoods to see what was going on.
Before the war, Taher ran a beautician business but had to flee to Tyre when the bombing began.
The images she was paying for showed her home was intact, including on November 26, the day before the ceasefire.
But at 11am on November 27, she received one more report. After surviving a year of Israeli air raids, her home was now in ruins.
“They blew up my house, levelled my land, and even enjoyed cutting down the trees,” she told Al Jazeera in the home she is renting in Tyre’s Hosh neighbourhood, an area that had also seen its fair share of destruction. The building across the road had been levelled.
“I miss having a coffee in the morning by the sea. I miss our gatherings and evenings in the garden. I miss the call to prayer from my village, Ramadan nights … picking clementines from the tree.
“I miss everything about my village – the sunset, the pine trees, and the sparkle of the sea from afar.”
‘This ceasefire is a lie’
On February 13, when Al Jazeera visited Naqoura, nearly every home was reduced to piles of wreckage and infrastructure lay in ruins.
Electricity poles had been pulled out of the ground, the local school was pockmarked with bullet holes, and the carcasses of burned vehicles lay abandoned.
“They destroyed the mosque, the cemetery, and the infrastructure – roads, water, electricity. Anything that provided means of livelihood, they destroyed,” Taher said.
Some homes had been commandeered by Israeli soldiers, who left them littered with food packaging and supplies brought in from Israel.
The walls were covered in Hebrew writing, mostly with shift schedules. But on one refrigerator, a soldier had left a message: “We came to drive away the darkness.”
Sanad, Al Jazeera’s verification agency, compared satellite images from December 3, 2024, and January 19, 2025.
The images from December 3 show many structures, including Awada’s home and the municipality building, with little visible damage.
The images from January 19 show destroyed structures, among them Awada’s home.
ACLED recorded 14 instances of the Israeli army carrying out controlled explosions and bulldozing of homes in Naqoura between December 11, 2024 and January 6, 2025. According to their data, each incident involved more than one house.
Sitting on what remained of his porch, Shaabi chain-smoked, surrounded by his family – children and grandchildren.
For many in Naqoura, the promise of a ceasefire brought hope for returning home. They never thought that their homes would be damaged or destroyed during the ceasefire.
In between puffs, Shaabi said, “This ceasefire is a lie.”
