Israel is under fire from Hamas in the south and Hezbollah in the north. Prime Minister Netanyahu warned the Lebanese militia not to fully enter the war – that would have “devastating consequences”.
The fighting between the Israeli military and the Shiite Hezbollah militia in northern Israel on the border with Lebanon is heating up. According to their own statements, the soldiers managed to fend off further Hezbollah attacks.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, visiting troops at the border, referred to the second Lebanon war in 2006, in which more than 1,500 people – mostly Lebanese civilians – were killed: “I can’t say whether Hezbollah will decide “To fully enter the war. If she does that, she will long for the second Lebanon war. That will be the biggest mistake of her life,” he said. “We will hit them with a severity that they cannot imagine. This will have devastating consequences for Hezbollah and Lebanon.”
“We’re scared, but we’d rather stay here”
A week ago, Israel declared a four-kilometer zone along the Lebanese border to be a restricted zone. A further 14 Israeli communities are now to be evacuated, including the 400-inhabitant Kibbutz Sasa. Here about 40 residents refuse to leave. 23-year-old Aya Shokhat explains why: “I’m not leaving because my family refuses to leave the apartment. We’re scared, but we love our home and we’d rather stay here than leave now,” she says. “We fought for this house all our lives, built it ourselves with our own hands, so we don’t want to leave it.”
They set up a kitchen in their bunker and bought food for two weeks. Sometimes they are bombarded with rockets for hours, and sometimes terrorists come across the border. Then everything is closed until the all-clear is given, says the young woman.
“The country is strong, the army is at the border”
Since the Hamas attack on October 7, 200,000 people in Israel have been forced to leave their homes. The 30,000-inhabitant town of Sderot in southern Israel, two kilometers from the border with Gaza, was also largely evacuated.
Yoav, a volunteer with the Israeli organization “Brothers in Arms,” sorts food into boxes on a table on a quiet street. He tapes them up to distribute to those who refuse to leave Sderot – despite constant rocket fire and warnings about terrorists from Gaza.
“For terrorists to come into their house, kill their family, their children, slaughter them – this cruelty is so unbelievable,” says Yoav. “That they burn children, kill mothers, kidnap them. None of us have ever experienced anything like that. But the country is strong, our army is at the border. Hamas is worse than IS. We have to win the war.”
As a former soldier who was not drafted because of his age, he also wanted to contribute something. The “Brothers in Arms” movement, of which he previously took to the streets against the Netanyahu government as a member, has now become an aid organization, says Yoav. Many old and sick people remained in Sderot.
Resident Viktoria Brodzki is primarily concerned about her animals: “I have a dog and eight cats. I look after cats on the street that need to be fed. For me that would be like sending my children to boarding school and then run away out of fear. I can’t understand something like that.”
Brodzki wants to stay in Sderot, even if the Israeli army’s ground offensive in Gaza is imminent. In recent days there have been isolated, limited advances by the Israeli army into the Gaza Strip to collect information on missing people and hostages, a military spokesman said. An Israeli soldier was killed and three others were injured in such an operation yesterday.