France’s foreign minister underlined his country’s role in brokering an agreement that ended fighting between Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah alongside the U.S., saying the deal wouldn’t have been possible without France’s special relationship with its former protectorate.

“It’s a success for French diplomacy and we can be proud,” said the minister, Jean-Noël Barrot, speaking hours after the ceasefire went into effect Wednesday.

The Lebanese army asked displaced people returning to southern Lebanon to avoid frontline villages and towns near the border where the Israeli military is still present until the troops withdraw, as a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah appeared to take hold.

"With the ceasefire coming into effect, the army is taking the necessary measures to complete its deployment in the south," the army said in a statement. "The army command calls on citizens to wait before returning to frontline villages and towns that Israeli enemy forces have penetrated, awaiting their withdrawal."

Some people in Israel who have been displaced by fighting with Lebanese Hezbollah say the ceasefire deal doesn’t make them feel secure enough to go home.

Some 50,000 people have been displaced from a string of cities, towns and villages along Israel’s northern border with Lebanon. Those communities have been pummeled by Hezbollah rocket and drone fire for 13 months, with dozens of houses damaged and in need of rebuilding or rehabilitation.

Lebanon’s caretaker government on Wednesday approved a U.S.-brokered ceasefire with Israel.

The move was largely a formality but also signaled the government’s commitment to its part in the deal, including deploying Lebanese soldiers along the border with Israel and cooperating with United Nations peacekeepers.

Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri called Wednesday for another effort to fill the country’s long-vacant presidency just hours after a ceasefire to halt hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel went into effect.

Lebanon has been without a president since October 2022, as its deeply divided parliament has been unable to elect a new head of state. The last effort to elect a president was more than a year ago.

Thousands of Lebanese displaced by the war began the journey back home as a ceasefire took hold on Wednesday, with many celebrating an end to the deadly fighting.

The truce brings to a halt a war that has killed thousands in Lebanon and resulted in mass displacement on both sides of the border.

U.S. President Joe Biden said a Lebanon truce will take effect early Wednesday, after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said a ceasefire with Hezbollah would allow Israel to focus its attention on Hamas and arch-enemy Iran.

Hezbollah has said it accepts the ceasefire proposal with Israel, but a senior official with the group said Tuesday that it had not seen the agreement in its final form.

“After reviewing the agreement signed by the enemy government, we will see if there is a match between what we stated and what was agreed upon by the Lebanese officials,” Mahmoud Qamati, deputy chair of Hezbollah’s political council, told the Al Jazeera news network.

Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati demanded in a statement on Tuesday that the international community "act swiftly" to halt Israeli aggression "and implement an immediate ceasefire".

His comments came after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in an address that the country's security cabinet would agree "this evening" on a truce deal in its war against Hezbollah.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday recommended his Cabinet approve a United States-brokered ceasefire agreement with Lebanon's Hezbollah, setting the stage for an end to nearly 14 months of fighting linked to the ongoing war in the Gaza Strip.

Israel stepped up its bombardment of Lebanon in the hours leading up to the Cabinet meeting, killing at least 23 people, according to local authorities. The military also issued a flurry of evacuation warnings — a sign it aims to keep pummeling Hezbollah in the final hours before any ceasefire takes hold.