BURJ MULUK: Israeli army fire killed 22 people in south Lebanon on Sunday including a soldier, health officials said, as residents tried to return home on the day Israel was meant to withdraw under a truce deal.

The withdrawal deadline is part of a ceasefire agreement reached two months ago that ended Israel`s war with Iran-backed Hezbollah, which had left the Lebanese militant group weakened.

The deal that took effect on November 27 said the Lebanese army was to deploy alongside United Nations peacekeepers in the south as the Israeli army withdrew over a 60-day period that ends on Sunday.

The parties have traded blame for the delay in implementing the agreement, and on Friday Israel said it would keep troops across the border in south Lebanon beyond the pullout date.

Lebanon`s health ministry said that Israeli forces opened fire on `citizens who were trying to return to their villages that are still under (Israeli) occupation`.

It said 22 people including six women and a soldier were killed and 124 more wounded. The Lebanese army also announced the soldier`s death and said another had been wounded.

The Israeli military said in a statement that its `troops operating in southern Lebanon fired warning shots to remove threats` where `suspects were identified approaching the troops`. It added that `a number of suspects... that posed an imminent threat to the troops were apprehended`.

Journalists said convoys of vehicles carrying hundreds of people, some flying yellow Hezbollah flags, were trying to get to several border villages.

`We will return to our villages and the Israeli enemy will leave,` even if it costs lives, said Ali Harb, a 27-yearold trying to go to Kfar Kila.

A joint statement from the UN special coordinator for Lebanon, Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, and the head of the UNIFIL peacekeeping mission acknowledged that `conditions are not yet in place for the safe return of citizens to their villages`.

`Threats and warnings` A correspondent saw hundreds of people gather for a collective prayer on a main road in the border town of Bint Jbeil, followed by a march to some nearby villages.

Residents could also be seen heading on foot and by motorbike towards the devastated border town of Mays al-Jabal, where Israeli troops are still stationed.

Some held up portraits of former Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, slain in an Israeli attack in late September, while women dressed in black carried photos of family members killed in the war.

Israeli military spokesman Avichay Adraee had issued a message earlier on Sunday to residents of more than 60 villages in southern Lebanon telling them not to return.

Speaking from the border town of Aita al-Shaab, Hezbollah lawmaker Hassan Fadlallah hailed in a television appearance `the return of residents in spite of the threats and warnings`.

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun, the former army chief who took office earlier this month, called on residents to keep a cool head and `trust the Lebanese army`, which he said wanted `to ensure your safe return to your homes and villages`.

`Lebanon`s sovereignty and territorial integrity are non-negotiable, and I am following up on this issue at the highest levels to ensure your rights and dignity,` he said in a statement.-AFP