A U.S. backed ceasefire agreement between Lebanon and Israel will remain in effect until the middle of next month, the White House announced Sunday.

The initial ceasefire plan, announced in late November, brought an end to 14 months of conflict between Israel and the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah. Brokered by the US and France, the agreement gave Hezbollah 60 days to end its armed presence in southern Lebanon and required Israeli forces to withdraw over the same period.

Latest news and live updates on the Gaza ceasefire deal as four female hostages are set to be released. The hostages are all Israeli soldiers.

The fragility of the truce between Israel and Hamas was laid bare on Saturday, after Israel accused Hamas of withholding a hostage, prompting a halt in the movement of Gazan civilians back to their homes in the north.

Palestinians and Israelis have barely had time to process the end of a ruinous 15-month war before Israel launched a ‘major counter-terrorism’ operation in the West Bank. Bel Trew reports from Jenin where families are fleeing their homes as the bullets and bombs rain down,

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has paid tribute to US President Donald Trump for his "role in securing the landmark ceasefire and hostages deal in Gaza" during a call between the two leaders.

The U.S. government said on Saturday it was "critical" that implementation of the Gaza ceasefire continues, after four Israeli soldiers were freed by Palestinian Hamas militants in exchange for 200 Palestinian prisoners.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has suggested that Israel might not withdraw all of its forces from Lebanon by a deadline set in its ceasefire with Hezbollah

Thirteen-year-old Zakariya Barbakh had spent most of his life shuffling between hospitals across Gaza, the occupied West Bank and Israel.

Israel let tens of thousands of Palestinians go back to northern Gaza for the first time since the early weeks of the 15-month war with Hamas​, under terms of a fragile ceasefire​.