As Lebanese stream south, northern Israelis don’t feel it's safe to return

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.

While thousands of Lebanese drove south with their belongings and mattresses tied on top of their cars, the mood in Israel 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 hostages still held there.

Noy Friedman, who was displaced from the town of Shlomi to the city of Haifa, said she wouldn’t feel safe in her hometown.

“I am also not ready for my family to return to Shlomi,” said Friedman.

Many displaced Israelis have been living in hotels since the fighting began in Oct. 2023 or have tried to reestablish their lives in new areas far from the fighting.

Returning could take months because of the damage caused to the communities, but also because of the fears many of the displaced still feel.

On a cold, rainy Wednesday morning, the hard-hit Israeli town of Kiryat Shmona was quiet. A handful of people milled about, inspecting damage from rocket attacks, including to the roof of a bus.

The town’s shopping mall, which had been hit before, appeared to have new damage. A rocket was seen stuck in the ground next to an apartment building.

“I am against the ceasefire,” said Eliyahu Maman, a Kiryat Shmona resident displaced to Haifa who feared Hezbollah could still attack from southern Lebanon. “I am not ready to return to Kiryat Shmona.”

“I think it is still not safe to return to our homes because Hezbollah is still close to us,” said Maman.

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

Meanwhile, on the highway linking Beirut with south Lebanon, hours after the Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire took hold, traffic was gridlocked, despite Israel’s military warning for displaced Lebanese not to return to evacuated villages in southern Lebanon. Israeli troops were still present in parts of southern Lebanon after Israel launched a ground invasion in October. The Israeli military said forces opened fire to push back a number of vehicles that were entering a restricted area in southern Lebanon.

Israel can claim major victories in the war, including the killing of Hezbollah’s top leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah and most of its senior commanders, as well as the destruction of extensive militant infrastructure. A complex attack involving exploding pagers and walkie-talkies, widely attributed to Israel, appeared to show a remarkable degree of penetration of the secretive militant group.

Hezbollah emerges from the war battered and bloodied, with the reputation it built by fighting Israel to a stalemate in the 2006 war tarnished. 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 Shiite sect, and for all of Lebanon,” said Hussein Sweidan, a resident returning to the port city of Tyre. He said he saw the ceasefire as a victory for Hezbollah.