South Lebanon residents accompanied by the army tried to return to their villages on Monday, official media and AFP correspondents reported, a day after Israeli fire killed more than 20 people in the area.

Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati said that Lebanon had agreed to an extension of the ceasefire deal between Hezbollah and Israel until February 18,after the Israeli military missed Sunday’s deadline to withdraw.

An AFP correspondent saw dozens of vehicles carrying families headed towards border towns, a day after hundreds of residents tried unsuccessfully to return to their homes.

Lebanon’s health ministry said Israeli fire killed one person Monday and wounded seven others in the south, hours after a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah was extended.

“Israeli enemy attacks as citizens attempt to return to their towns that are still occupied has led... to one dead and seven wounded,” the health ministry said in a statement.

In the village of Burj al-Muluk, an AFP photographer saw dozens of men, women and children gathering in the morning behind a dirt barrier, some holding yellow Hezbollah flags, hoping to reach the border town of Kfar Kila, where the Israeli military is still deployed.

In the city of Bint Jbeil, an access point for many border villages, Hezbollah supporters were distributing sweets, water and images of former chief Hassan Nasrallah, who was killed in an Israeli strike in September.

Others handed out stickers celebrating the “victory from God” as women held pictures of slain Hezbollah fighters.

The official National News Agency said that Lebanese “army reinforcements” had arrived near the border town of Mais al-Jabal, where people had started to gather at “the entrance of the town” in preparation for entering alongside the military.

It said the Israeli army had “opened fire in the direction of the Lebanese army” near the town, without reporting casualties.

In the nearby town of Hula, the agency said residents entered “after the deployment of the army in several neighbourhoods.”

Residents told to ‘wait’

Under the ceasefire deal that took effect on November 27, the Lebanese military was to deploy in the south alongside United Nations peacekeepers as the Israeli army withdrew over a 60-day period, which ended on Sunday.

Hezbollah was also to pull back its forces north of the Litani River -- about 30 kilometres (20 miles) from the border.

Both sides have traded blame for delays in implementing the deal, which came after more than a year of hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah, including two months of all-out war.

Israeli military spokesman Avichay Adraee on Monday called again for south Lebanon residents to “wait” before returning.

Hilal Khashan, professor of political science at the American University of Beirut, said he did not expect a return to major violence.

“Hezbollah no longer wants any further confrontation with Israel, its goal is to protect its achievements in Lebanon,” he told AFP.

The health ministry said Monday that Israeli fire killed 24 people who were trying to return to their villages the previous day, updating an earlier toll of 22 dead.

The Israeli military had said soldiers “fired warning shots to remove threats” where “suspects were identified approaching the troops.”

The Lebanese army said Sunday it would “continue to accompany residents” returning to the south and “protect them from Israeli attacks.”