Beirut, Lebanon – Abu Haidar’s legs dangled out the passenger side of his car onto the pavement at Beirut’s waterfront. He had folded up his mattress – the one he’s slept on for the last six weeks – and packed it on top of his car.It was a few hours before the midnight start of a 10-day ceasefire between Hezbollah and Israel was set to take effect. Abu Haidar’s car was packed, and he planned to head to his village, Kherbet Selem, about 25 kilometres (15 miles) from the border.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of list“At 11pm, I’m going home, not at 12,” he told Al Jazeera. He said he would find a way around the fact that Israel had bombed the last working bridge to the south earlier on Thursday.Few others, however, planned to follow suit. Displaced people in downtown Beirut told Al Jazeera they didn’t trust the Israelis to uphold the ceasefire and would wait before returning to their homes. And that’s if they had homes to go back to at all.All but one room of Fadal Alawi’s home in the Hay el-Sellom neighbourhood of Beirut’s southern suburbs was destroyed. Next to him stood Haytham Dandash and his wife, Ruwayda Zaiter, whose home was completely knocked down.“We’re going to stay here the whole 10 days,” Dandash said. Only when a longer agreement is put into effect will they go home, he added.Intensifying before ceasefireWhen a previous ceasefire came into effect in the early hours of November 27, 2024, after a year of war, the mood was joyous. Families packed their belong …
