In Beirut Hizbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah said his guerrillas had achieved a ‘‘strategic, historic victory’’ against Israel, calling Monday ‘‘a great day.’’ He also promised Hizbollah would help the Lebanese people rebuild.

‘‘We are today before a strategic, historic victory, without exaggeration,’’ he said in a taped speech on Hizbollah’s al-Manar TV.

The developments came as Lebanese civilians defied an Israeli travel ban and streamed back to their homes in war-ravaged areas.

In an address to parliament, Olmert said the ceasefire agreement eliminated the ‘‘state within a state’’ run by Hizbollah and restored Lebanon’s sovereignty in the south. Defence Minister Amir Peretz said the war opened a window for negotiations with Lebanon and renewed talks with Palestinians.

But many Israelis were upset by the high casualties during 34 days of fighting, and Benjamin Netanyahu, head of the opposition Likud Party, told lawmakers there were many failures in the war.

For the first time in a month, no rockets were fired into northern Israel, but few Israelis who fled the war were seen returning, and Israel’s government advised them to stay away for now to see whether the truce held.

Officials said four Hizbollah guerrillas were killed in two clashes near the town of Hadatha when armed men approached Israeli troops three hours after the ceasefire began, at 8 am Israeli time. Later clashes occurred near the towns of Farun and Shama, with one guerrilla killed in each.

Capt Jacob Dallal, a military spokesman, said the army was urging Lebanese civilians to stay out of the south until Lebanese troops and UN peacekeepers moved in to oversee the ceasefire.

Lebanese, Israeli and UN officers met on the border to discuss the withdrawal of Israeli forces from southern Lebanon and the deployment of the Lebanese army in the region, UN spokesman Milos Strugar said.

The next step in the peace effort—sending in a peacekeeping mission—appeared days away. The head of the existing UN force in Lebanon asked for reinforcements ‘‘as soon as possible,’’ and warned that the situation remains fragile.

Israel would continue to maintain its air and sea blockade of Lebanon to prevent arms from reaching Hizbollah guerrillas, Israeli army officials said.

In Bint Jbail, scene of heavy ground battles between guerrillas and Israeli soldiers, an entire swath of the town center was flattened and rows of cars sat incinerated in the streets. In Beirut, street life cautiously returned. Traffic was heavier and some stores reopened.

Thousands of vehicles crept south along bomb-blasted highways. Hizbollah distributed leaflets congratulating Lebanon on its ‘‘big victory’’ and thanking citizens for their patience during the fighting.