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Beirut, Lebanon – Earlier than Israel’s battle on Lebanon, Ali (full title withheld for security causes) lived in Haddatha, a village within the Bint Jbeil district within the south, about 12km (7.5 miles) from the border with Israel, surrounded by nature the place agriculture was intrinsic to life.

Then got here Israel’s “hellfire”.

At the very least 9 folks have been killed and a few 3,000 injured, together with the Iranian ambassador to Lebanon, when 1000’s of pagers exploded, practically concurrently, overwhelming hospitals on September 17, 2024.

Six days later, Israel escalated its assaults throughout the south, killing practically 600 folks, in what was the nation’s deadliest day for the reason that nation’s ruinous civil battle led to 1990, and displacing a couple of million folks.

“Our home was destroyed,” he informed Al Jazeera. Ali took refuge in a city about 20km (12.5 miles) north of Haddatha, referred to as Burj Qalaway.

However greater than a yr later, he’s but to return dwelling regardless of a ceasefire. He’s certainly one of tens of 1000’s who’re nonetheless displaced from their properties round Lebanon and who say that what little they’ve obtained in help from the Lebanese state or Hezbollah is just not sufficient to rebuild their lives or properties destroyed in the course of the battle.

South ‘not protected’

On November 27, 2024, a ceasefire got here into impact between Hezbollah and Israel. The settlement dropped at an finish greater than a yr of cross-border assaults and a two-month-long Israeli intensification that killed 1000’s in Lebanon, principally civilians, and devastated civilian infrastructure.

Below the ceasefire, cross-border assaults have been speculated to cease, Hezbollah was to withdraw north of the Litani River, which runs throughout south Lebanon, and Israel was to withdraw troops that had invaded south Lebanon in October.

Israel, nonetheless, by no means stopped attacking. Its military nonetheless occupies 5 factors in southern Lebanon, and in the course of the ceasefire, it razed a number of villages to the bottom.

An estimated 1.2 million folks, greater than 1 / 4 of the Lebanese inhabitants, had been displaced in the course of the battle. On the morning of November 27, a whole bunch of 1000’s of individuals streamed south to their villages to return dwelling. However tens of 1000’s extra have been left behind and are nonetheless unable to go dwelling.

“The south is just not protected,” Ali stated. “I’m afraid that I is likely to be strolling someplace and a raid will assault a automobile subsequent to me.”

Israeli assaults proceed throughout the south and the Bekaa Valley within the east on a near-daily foundation, with the Lebanese authorities counting greater than 2,000 Israeli violations of the 2024 ceasefire deal within the final three months of 2025.

Ali is just not alone. The Worldwide Group for Migration estimates that greater than 64,000 persons are nonetheless internally displaced in Lebanon, based on figures compiled in October 2025.

Complete villages ‘razed’

A few of the 64,000 can’t return to their properties alongside the border area with Israel. Israeli troopers nonetheless maintain 5 factors on Lebanese territory, managing giant swaths of south Lebanon by way of violence and know-how: utilizing drones, air raids, shelling or gunfire. For the reason that ceasefire, Israel has killed greater than 330 folks in Lebanon, together with a minimum of 127 civilians.

Melina*, from Odaisseh, a village on the southern border, lived most of her life in Nabatieh. Throughout the battle, she was displaced to Sidon, a southern metropolis about 44km (27 miles) south of Beirut.

“I haven’t been in a position to go to my village,” she informed Al Jazeera. “Psychologically, I can’t bear to see our home, which was utterly destroyed, and the complete village was razed to the bottom.”

“The safety scenario stays extraordinarily harmful,” she stated. “You would be shot at by the Israeli facet at any second, and it’s unsafe to journey and not using a Lebanese military escort.”

Ali runs a market in Burj Qalaway, however he says the revenue is just not sufficient to rebuild his dwelling. There are additionally different considerations. Israel has attacked reconstruction tools in southern Lebanon, drawing criticism from human rights teams.

“Amid the ceasefire, Israeli forces have carried out assaults that unlawfully goal reconstruction-related tools and amenities,” Ramzi Kaiss, Lebanon researcher at Human Rights Watch, stated in a December 2025 report. “After decreasing lots of Lebanon’s southern border cities to rubble, the Israeli navy is now making it way more tough for tens of 1000’s of residents to rebuild their destroyed properties and return to their cities.”

Some Lebanese additionally worry a renewed Israeli offensive just like the one in 2024.

‘Couldn’t see 2cm in entrance of me’

On July 30, 2024, at about 7:40pm, Ramez* was sitting in his bed room at dwelling in Haret Hreik, a neighbourhood in Beirut’s southern suburbs referred to regionally as Dahiyeh, an space usually focused previously by Israel for the Hezbollah presence there.

His cats have been roaming across the room, and he was busy on his telephone when he heard loud explosions.

The battle had been raging within the south, however assaults on Beirut and its suburbs weren’t but as widespread. “I heard greater than 9 bangs,” Ramez stated. He ran out of his bed room to assist his household evacuate. He left his door open, he stated, so his cats might escape. Whereas telling his mom to seize her issues, he heard the loudest bang.

“The entire neighbouring constructing simply collapsed and fell on us,” he stated. Israel had simply levelled the constructing subsequent to his, killing Fuad Shukr, a prime Hezbollah commander.

“I couldn’t see 2cm in entrance of me due to the fog and the mud.”

Ramez’s household escaped unscathed, although their home was badly broken and his sister’s automobile was destroyed. His cats additionally survived. He discovered them the following day.

“I at all times puzzled how folks simply undergo one thing like this and simply transfer on, saying, OK, Alhamdulillah, everyone seems to be alive,” he says, although, “at that time I sort of understood it”.

For the reason that finish of the battle, he has been in a position to return to his household dwelling in Haret Hreik. However his household needed to pay for a lot of the reconstruction themselves, with little assist from the federal government or any group.

They registered with the federal government for help however stated they obtained solely a one-time fee of 30 million Lebanese kilos (a little bit greater than $330).

Hezbollah additionally despatched engineers to evaluate the injury. In December 2024, the Reuters information company reported that Hezbollah would pay about $77m and lease to households affected by battle. Some locals stated funds from the group helped a bit, however others stated it had stopped paying nonmembers or tried to undervalue their losses.

“They have been very stingy with funds,” Ramez stated. “They tried to make us settle for low funds, however my mother stood her floor and stated it’s sufficient.”

Different individuals who have been displaced by the battle informed Al Jazeera that the help supplied by the state and Hezbollah was very restricted.

Conflict is ‘most horrible’

Reviews are combined over Hezbollah’s monetary functionality, and it’s tough to find out how badly they’ve been hit financially after the group’s political and navy management was devastated by 2024’s battle and suffered a number of Israeli assassinations, together with their longtime charismatic chief, Hassan Nasrallah.

The fall of the Bashar al-Assad regime in Syria additionally dealt Hezbollah a severe blow, disrupting the land path to its primary benefactor, Iran – itself now reeling from lethal protests and bracing for a attainable US assault. The group is below immense stress from the Lebanese authorities to disarm, with the USA and Israel making use of stress.

Additional compounding the disaster is the truth that Lebanon is now nearly seven years into one of many worst financial crises in additional than 150 years, based on the World Financial institution. This has hit locals exhausting, with many having their financial institution accounts frozen and the foreign money devaluing by greater than 90 %.

This has left lots of the displaced feeling deserted and uncertain of how one can proceed.

There have been violent Israeli air raids within the south on Saturday, which continued on Sunday. Within the meantime, folks like Ali should proceed determining methods to outlive as their displacement carries on effectively previous the one-year mark.

“We love life, however the scenario is just not good. Wars break your again,” Ali stated. “Conflict is essentially the most horrible factor on the earth.”

*Actual names withheld for security causes.

Joao Sousa contributed to this report.