When Fatima Atiyeh arrived at her home in the Lebanese coastal town of Tyre on the first day of the ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah, anticipation gave way to sadness.

"My house is damaged, the windows are broken and the doors are torn off," she told DW on Thursday.

"The first night was very difficult," Atiyeh said, adding that she pinned a sheet to the frame of her bedroom door for a sense of privacy. "I didn't feel safe, and yet it felt so good to be home again even though there was no electricity and no water."

The majority of the around 1.3 million Lebanese who, like Atiyeh, fled fearing Israeli strikes, decided to return to their homes in light of the current ceasefire.

The ceasefire agreement, brokered by the United States and France, calls for a 60-day break in fighting between Israel and Hezbollah that killed at least 3,823 people and injured 15,859 more in Lebanon since October 2023, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry. Hezbollah strikes have killed 45 civilians in northern Israel and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. At least 73 Israeli soldiers have been killed in northern Israel, the Golan Heights, and in combat in southern Lebanon, according to Israeli authorities.

Hezbollah is classified as a terrorist organization by the United States, Germany and several other countries while the European Union classifies Hezbollah's armed wing as a terror group.

While attacks have........

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