Returning residents seek to rebuild homes and businesses in Lebanon

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00:00Relentless Israeli strikes had turned the city of Nabatiyah into a ghost town.

00:05With a ceasefire now in place, residents have started to return,

00:09but only to find their homes and businesses levelled to the ground.

00:13This building used to house a coffee shop.

00:15Its owner has already started clearing debris in the hope of reopening one day.

00:20We must rebuild. We must stand up again.

00:23We must all help each other in Nabatiyah and in the entire south.

00:28We cannot stop. Life does not stop.

00:33The old city was built during the Ottoman era,

00:35and for centuries its souk served as a meeting point for people from other southern cities.

00:40Now it's a pile of rubble.

00:44People, young and old, know Nabatiyah's market well.

00:49We will rebuild it, with the help of those who have documents

00:52and archive pictures of what the souk was like.

00:56It's part of our heritage and history.

01:00More than a million Lebanese were displaced by the fighting, mostly in the south.

01:04But whilst thousands have already returned,

01:06the Israeli army has warned citizens not to go back to 60 southern villages,

01:10saying anyone who does is putting themselves in danger.

01:14It's testament to the fragility of the ceasefire,

01:16which officials in both Israel and Lebanon have accused each other of breaching already.

01:21IDF footage released this week shows its forces still operating in the south,

01:25and on Saturday, the Lebanese health ministry says Israel struck a car in the district of Taya,

01:30wounding three people, including a child.

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