If it holds, the ceasefire would bring an end to nearly 14 months of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, which escalated in mid-September into an all-out war.

It could give some reprieve to the 1.2 million Lebanese displaced by the fighting and the tens of thousands of Israelis who fled their homes along the border with Lebanon.

“They were a nasty and ugly 60 days,” said Mohammed Kaafarani, 59, who was displaced from the Lebanese village of Bidias. “We reached a point where there was no place to hide."

The U.S.- and France-brokered deal, approved by Israel late Tuesday, calls for an initial two-month halt to fighting and requires Hezbollah to end its armed presence in southern Lebanon, while Israeli troops are to return to their side of the border.

Thousands of additional Lebanese troops and U.N. peacekeepers would deploy in the south, and an international panel headed by the United States would monitor compliance.

Israel says it reserves the right to strike Lebanon should it violate the terms of the deal.

The deal would not address the ongoing war in the Gaza Strip. But President Joe Biden on Tuesday said his administration would make another push in the coming days to try to renew efforts for a deal there.

Lebanese are streaming south despite warnings

Hours before the ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon took effect, Israel launched broad strikes that shook the Lebanese capital Beirut and a volley of rockets from Hezbollah set off air raid sirens across a large swath of northern Israel.

But after the ceasefire began early Wednesday, quiet appeared to take hold, prompting waves of Lebanese to head home.

Israel’s Arabic military spokesperson warned displaced Lebanese not to return to their villages in southern Lebanon. The Israeli army said forces opened fire to push back vehicles that were entering a restricted area.

The Lebanese military asked displaced returning to southern Lebanon to avoid frontline villages and towns near the border where Israeli troops are still present until they withdraw.

But some videos circulating on social media show displaced Lebanese defying these calls and returning to villages in the south near the coastal city of Tyre. Israeli troops were still present in parts of southern Lebanon after Israel launched a ground invasion in October.

On the highway linking Beirut with south Lebanon, thousands of people drove south with their belongings and mattresses tied on top of their cars. Traffic was gridlocked at the northern entrance of the port city of Sidon.

Residents will return to vast destruction wrought by the Israeli military during its campaign, which flattened villages.

More than 3,760 people have been killed by Israeli fire in Lebanon the past 13 months, according to Lebanese health officials.

Hezbollah emerged from the war battered and bloodied. Yet its fighters still managed to put up heavy resistance on the ground, slowing Israel’s advance while continuing to fire scores of rockets, missiles and drones across the border each day.

“This is a moment of victory, pride and honor for us, the Shia sect, and for all of Lebanon,” said Hussein Sweidan, a resident returning to Tyre in southern Lebanon, who said he saw the ceasefire as a victory for Hezbollah.

Sporadic celebratory gunfire was heard at a main roundabout in the city, as people returning honked the horns of cars and residents cheered.

Some Israelis are concerned the deal doesn't go far enough

In Israel, the mood was far more subdued, with displaced Israelis concerned that the deal did not go far enough to rein in Hezbollah and that it did not address Gaza and the captives still held there.

On Wednesday morning, Kiryat Shmona remained quiet on a cold, rainy day. A handful of people milled about, inspecting damage from earlier rocket attacks, including to the roof of a bus. The town’s shopping mall, which had been hit before, appeared to have new damage, and a rocket was seen stuck in the ground next to an apartment building.

A significant return of the displaced to their communities, many of which have suffered extensive damage from rocket fire, could take months.