Bloodshed over the weekend highlighted the brittleness of the cease-fires in both places. Still, Israel, Hamas and Hezbollah each have reasons to postpone a new escalation, at least for a few weeks.

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Naim Qassem insisted Hezbollah had emerged from the fight with Israel victorious, despite painful and unprecedented setbacks, and was unwilling to concede the group’s domestic position. Qassem also expressed Hezbollah’s satisfaction with Lebanon’s post-war political direction and said his group had a productive and positive relationship with Lebanon’s new president and prime minister-designate.

Sunday’s delayed start to the truce was a minor problem compared with the difficult choices and American leverage needed to get both parties to the second phase, which could end the war.

The most likely impact of the two ceasefires is for all parties to avoid returning to war. The risk of one blown ceasefire leading to another will weigh heavily on their minds.

What began as a battle between Israel and Hamas morphed into a much wider regional conflict that has reshaped much of the Middle East.

Israeli troops fired on people trying to return home to southern Lebanon and delayed a return home for northern Gaza residents. Israel blamed Hezbollah and Hamas.

Hezbollah leader Sheikh Naim Qassem said Monday that Israel should withdraw from the occupied border areas in southern Lebanon, rejecting the extension of the cease-fire arrangements to Feb. 18.

Israel says it has killed thousands of the armed group’s members and destroyed much of its infrastructure, but since the cease-fire started Hamas has shown it still holds power in the enclave.

Israel’s defense minister has announced a series of raids that he says are targeting “terrorism” in the occupied West Bank, as Palestinian officials warned of a “man-made disaster.”