Israel's military has issued new orders telling residents of more than 10 towns and villages in southern Lebanon to leave their homes immediately, extending the warnings to areas north of the Litani River and beyond the zone its troops currently occupy.

The orders were posted on Sunday by the military's Arabic-language spokesman, Avichay Adraee, who told residents to evacuate at once and move at least 1,000 metres into open ground. Lebanon's state-run National News Agency later reported a series of Israeli strikes across the south, including on towns that had not been named in the warning.

The new orders come despite a fragile United States-brokered ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon that has been in place since 17 April and was meant to halt the fighting between Israel's military and the armed group Hezbollah.

Orders reach north of the Litani

Several of the towns covered by the latest warning lie in the district of Nabatieh, north of the Litani River, south of which Israel has stationed troops. Al Jazeera's correspondent in Beirut, Rory Challands, said three of the towns were receiving such orders for the first time.

"What's significant about the forced evacuation orders issued this morning ... is that three of [the towns] are receiving them for the first time. Some of them are even north of the Litani River," he reported. "That is not unique in this conflict. Israel has done these things before, but collectively, it shows that Israel's area of operations continues to expand."

Challands said the ceasefire, in force since mid-April and recently extended to mid-May, "exists only in name". "Down south, Israel maintains five divisions of its invading army, and it is bombing and demolishing homes extensively," he said.

The warning follows a similar round of evacuation orders on Saturday, when residents in 20 locations, including the city of Nabatieh, were told to leave. According to the National News Agency, warplanes then struck several of the areas covered by the warning, including the villages of Rihan and Sujud near Nabatieh, and residents were urged to move north of the Zahrani River, about 45 kilometres from the border with Israel. Last month, the Israeli military designated all areas south of the Zahrani River as combat zones.

Strikes continue despite the truce

On Wednesday, Israel's military chief of staff, Eyal Zamir, threatened to strike Hezbollah "beyond the Yellow Line", the line marking the area under Israeli control. "Any threat, anywhere, against our communities or our forces – including beyond the Yellow Line and north of the Litani – will be eliminated," he said during a visit to Israeli troops.

The military says two soldiers and an army contractor have been killed by drone attacks in the area in the past week, with dozens of soldiers wounded.

Lebanon's Ministry of Public Health said at least 10 people were killed in Israeli attacks across the country on Saturday. The ministry said the total death toll since the Israel-Hezbollah war escalated on 2 March stands at 2,659 killed, with 8,183 injured.

Talks stalled over the ceasefire

The United States has called for direct peace negotiations between Lebanon and Israel, but Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said on Wednesday that Israel should fully implement the ceasefire before any talks can take place.

Israel says its attacks target Hezbollah, but a large proportion of those killed have been civilians, according to Lebanese officials. The fighting, which began after Israel's war on Gaza started in October 2023, intensified sharply in September 2024, when Israel killed Hezbollah's longtime leader Hassan Nasrallah.

For the families told to leave on Sunday, the orders mean another displacement in a war that, on paper, has been under a ceasefire for almost seven months.