ISRAEL kept thousands of Palestinians from returning to their homes in northern Gaza today, while killing at least 15 people in Lebanon, despite so-called ceasefires.

As well as the fatalities, Israeli troops in southern Lebanon wounded than 80 people when they opened fire on protesters demanding their withdrawal in line with a ceasefire agreement, Lebanese health officials reported.

Demonstrators attempted to enter several villages near the border to protest at Israel’s failure to withdraw by the 60-day deadline stipulated in a ceasefire agreement that halted the Israel-Hezbollah war in late November.