Northern residents strike, head to Jerusalem to protest

IDF reservist killed, nine wounded by explosive in southern Lebanon amid truce

Sgt. First Class (res.) Lidor Porat, 31, dies as engineering vehicle rolls over bomb; military carries out strikes after incident; Lebanon reports repair work on bombed bridges

An Israel Defense Forces reservist was killed, and nine soldiers were wounded, one of them seriously, when they were hit by an explosive device in southern Lebanon on Saturday, the military announced the next day.

The slain soldier was named as Sgt. First Class (res.) Lidor Porat, 31, of the 769th “Hiram” Regional Brigade’s 7106th Battalion, from Ashdod.

He was the second soldier killed in as many days despite an ongoing ceasefire.

During the battalion’s operations in IDF-controlled territory in southern Lebanon, an engineering vehicle drove over a bomb that had been planted by Hezbollah, according to an initial military probe.

Soldiers stationed in the area to secure the heavy machinery were hit by the blast, leading to Porat’s death and the injury of nine others — one seriously, four moderately, and four lightly.

Immediately after the blast, the IDF struck several targets in the area.

The wounded soldiers were airlifted to a hospital, and their families were notified, the army added.

Further details surrounding the incident were under investigation by the military.

Family members described Porat as a deeply religious man with “love of the Torah and love of exceptional Torah scholars,” the Ynet outlet reported.

The Walla outlet cited acquaintances as saying he was a student of electrical engineering and had spent much time on reserve duty in the army since the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack on Israel that triggered a war in the Gaza Strip and was the catalyst for an earlier round of fighting in Lebanon.

Porat is survived by his father, his elder brother, and a twin sister.

He was the second IDF soldier killed in an explosion since the truce went into effect in southern Lebanon.

Warrant Officer (res.) Barak Kalfon was killed on Friday. Kalfon, 48, of the 226th Reserve Paratroopers Brigade’s 7056th Battalion, was from Adi in northern Israel. He worked as an engineer at Rafael, the state-owned defense firm, and is survived by his wife and two daughters.

His death occurred on Friday after a 10-day ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah took effect at midnight. The reservists were scanning a building in the southern Lebanon village of Jebbayn for weapons when an explosive device went off.

The soldiers’ deaths brought to 15 the number of IDF troops killed in the current fighting in Lebanon. Both men were to be laid to rest on Sunday.

The ceasefire halted more than six weeks of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, the Lebanese terror group backed by Iran.

Northern residents strike

Amid the shaky truce, the Kiryat Shmona municipality held a strike to protest the ceasefire, with the education system in the northern border town shut down.

A convoy of vehicles left the town and headed to protest in Jerusalem on Sunday.

Education Minister Yoav Kisch came out against the action, saying that schools should not be involved.

“I am not making any claims about the mayor’s political protest. It is a big mistake to involve the education system in any strike. Harming children and taking the education system hostage for any purpose is a big mistake,” he told Army Radio.

The Democrats party chair, Yair Golan, expressed support for the beleaguered residents of the north, who complain of decades of neglect and unfulfilled promises in the face of the Hezbollah threats to their communities.

“They are absolutely right — what is happening is simply a disgrace. This city is empty, 40 percent of its residents have left and will probably not return. This city is not receiving the proper government support to recover,” Golan said.

The municipality said that special education and emergency services will remain in operation.

Many residents of the north, who suffer the brunt of incessant Hezbollah rocket and drone attacks during each conflict, criticize the ceasefire, saying it ended the fighting before the threat from Hezbollah had been emphatically removed.

Hezbollah began attacking Israel on March 2, days after the beginning of the US-Israeli war with the Islamic Republic. Israel responded with heavy airstrikes and by expanding troops’ presence deeper into Lebanon.

Bridges rebuilt

On the other side of the border, Lebanon’s military said it reopened a road and bridge damaged by Israeli strikes in the country’s south.

In a statement, the military said it “fully reopened” a road linking the city of Nabatieh with the Khardali area, and has “partially reopened the Burj Rahal-Tyre bridge.”

“Work is also underway to rehabilitate the Tayr Falsay-Tyre bridge… following damage caused by the Israeli aggression,” the army added.

Israeli strikes on bridges that cross Lebanon’s Litani River, which flows around 30 kilometers (20 miles) north of Israel, have largely cut off the area south of the waterway from the rest of Lebanon, according to the army.

Israel said it has targeted bridges and roads used by Hezbollah to move operatives and weapons into the country’s south, as it works to end the terror group’s missile fire.

Since the truce began, Lebanon’s military and local authorities have been working to reopen roads that were blocked due to Israeli strikes.

The vital Qasmiyeh bridge was also reopened on Friday morning, allowing countless people displaced from southern Lebanon by the fighting to return to the area and check on their property.

However, many residents have remained hesitant to venture back, with the longevity of the truce uncertain.

US President Donald Trump has given the impression that the truce had been imposed upon Israel, declaring in a Truth Social post that Israel “will not be bombing Lebanon any longer.”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has framed it as a strategic opening for both diplomacy and continued military pressure.

Iran has linked the ceasefire in Lebanon to its own shaky, temporary ceasefire with the US, which paused the war that began with joint US-Israeli strikes on the Islamic Republic.

Thirteen Israeli soldiers have been killed in the conflict with Hezbollah, two civilians were killed by Hezbollah rockets, and an Israeli civilian was mistakenly killed in the north by Israeli artillery shelling.

According to Lebanese authorities, who do not distinguish between fighters and noncombatants, the fighting has killed nearly 2,300 people and displaced more than a million.