Truce between Israel and Lebanon. Cartoon of 17/04/2026 in CTXT
Translation of the cartoon: "The consortium of destruction and occupation has decided to take ten days' holiday"
The 10-day ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon came into effect at 11 p.m. Spanish time on Thursday 16 April. The truce comes after 46 days of attacks on Lebanon that have left more than 2,000 people dead, 1.2 million displaced and villages completely wiped off the map.
More than 80% of the markets in Lebanon are no longer functioning, which has meant that famine, as in Gaza, is already causing extreme situations resulting from the massive bombardment. The destruction of infrastructure of all kinds has led to an urgent need for shelter, psychological support and resources for education and health care.
UNRWA claims to have delivered more than 25,000 meals in just one week but warns that it is not enough. UNRWA also recalls that the Israeli security cabinet approved the creation of 34 new settlements in the occupied West Bank, which are illegal under international law, and that so far in 2026, more than 580 settler attacks have been recorded in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem.
This short truce also hangs in the balance, as Lebanon has denounced Israeli ceasefire violations and Netanyahu has already warned that troops will not withdraw and will continue to occupy a 10-kilometre stretch of Lebanese soil in southern Lebanon.
Although they make no secret of it, it is impossible not to recognise in Lebanon the pattern followed by Israel in Palestine. Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz dispels any doubts by assuring that the army "holds and will continue to hold" the territory it has occupied in southern Lebanon, and warned that Israel could strike again after the ten-day truce in order to force Hizbollah to disarm.
Under the premise of creating a "security belt against terrorism", ignoring and disregarding every human rights law written by man and committing war crimes without batting an eyelid, Israel claims to be legitimised to continue murdering and displacing civilians while laying waste to everything. To this end, it is systematically demolishing entire villages and occupying more and more land with the sole intention of expanding its territory.
Some of these demolitions, promised on 22 March by the defence minister to "accelerate the destruction of Lebanese homes" following the "Gaza model", have been documented by the BBC. A BBC Verify analysis estimates that more than 1,400 buildings have been destroyed since 2 March, although the difficulty of accessing the ground suggests that the extent of the destruction is much greater.
What was initially sold in the media as the first glimmerings of a possible permanent ceasefire that might result from peace talks between the genocidal consortium of Israel and the US and Iran have fizzled out in a heartbeat.
Iran, which announced the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz twelve hours after the ceasefire came into effect in Lebanon, has already resumed transit restrictions due to the US blockade of Iranian ports.
