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.

Israel has said that it needs to stay longer because the Lebanese army has not deployed to all areas of southern Lebanon to ensure that Hezbollah does not re-establish its presence in the area.

The Lebanese army has said it cannot deploy until Israeli forces withdraw.

Israel said in a statement that its troops had fired warning shots to “remove threats in several areas where suspects were identified approaching.”

In Gaza, Israel blamed its refusal to allow the return of Palestinians to northern Gaza on Hamas’s failure to release an Israeli civilian hostage, Arbel Yehoud, in the agreed sequence of prisoner exchanges.

Local health officials said Israeli forces had fired on the crowd of displaced Palestinians, killing two people and wounding nine.

Hamas accused Israel of violating the agreement.

Crowds of people carrying their belongings filled a main road leading to a closed Israeli checkpoint.

“We have been in agony for a year and a half,” said Nadia Qasem.

Fadi al-Sinwar, also displaced from Gaza City, said: “The fate of more than a million people is linked to one person.

“See how valuable we are? We are worthless,” he said.

Israeli forces fired on the crowds on three occasions overnight and into today, killing two people and wounding nine, including a child, according to al-Awda hospital, which received the casualties.

Hamas freed four female Israeli soldiers on Saturday and Israel released some 200 Palestinian prisoners, most of whom were serving life sentences after being convicted of deadly attacks.

Hamas accused Israel of using the issue as a pretext to delay Palestinians’ return to their homes.

In a statement, the resistance group said it had told mediators that Ms Yehoud was alive and provided guarantees that she would be released.

Itzik Horn, the father of hostages Iair and Eitan Horn, warned that any resumption of fighting was “a death sentence for the hostages” and criticised Israeli government ministers who want the war to go on.