A fragile ceasefire between Hezbollah and Israel has given Lebanese families their first opportunity to mourn and bury loved ones killed in the conflict. More than 3,000 Lebanese have died since fighting erupted in March, according to the Health Ministry. The temporary pause in hostilities has enabled mass funerals across southern Lebanon, where dozens of bodies were recovered from makeshift graves.

Emergency workers have begun exhuming remains from temporary cemeteries in Tyre and Beirut, where bodies were hastily buried in plywood coffins marked only with numbered cinder blocks. Families who fled north are returning to identify graves and retrieve their dead for proper burial in hometowns. The process involves carefully extracting deteriorated coffins from hardened earth, spraying them with perfume to mask decay, then wrapping them in flags for transport.

The casualty count includes nearly 300 women and more than 200 children killed in Israeli strikes, plus five journalists and over 100 medical workers. Israel reports 18 military deaths and two civilian fatalities from Hezbollah attacks. Israeli forces now occupy a six-mile-deep belt along the border, destroying villages and cemeteries, leaving thousands unable to return home either as survivors or for burial.