On Sunday, Israel evacuated 14 additional communities near the northern border in response to increasing threats by Hezbollah. The Lebanese-based terrorist group has been carrying out attacks using anti-tank missiles, rockets, mortars, and small arms fire in the last two weeks.
Israel evacuated 28 communities on October 16 and last week it also announced the evacuation of the city of Kiryat Shmona. Hundreds of thousands of Israelis have been affected by the evacuations and the murderous attack on October 7 that led to the massacre of 1,400 people and the devastation of communities near Gaza.
The extent of the evacuations in northern Israel; red shows the first round on October 16, and then Kiryat Shmona on October 19 and now 14 more on October 22. A total of 42 communities and one city due to Hezbollah threats and attacks. pic.twitter.com/0IlBwYawsN
— Seth Frantzman (@sfrantzman) October 22, 2023
In a joint Defense Ministry and IDF announcement, their National Emergency Management Authority (NEMA) said they “are announcing the expansion of the state-funded evacuation plan to additional communities in northern Israel.”
The 14 communities that are being evacuated on Sunday include Snir, Dan, Beit Hillel, She'ar Yashuv, Hagoshrim, Liman, Matzuva, Eylon, Goren, Gornot HaGalil, Even Menachem, Sasa, Tziv'on and Ramot Naftali. This is in addition to the 28 that were already evacuated due to their proximity to the border: Ghajar, Dishon, Kfar Yuval, Margaliot, Metula, Avivim, Dovev, Ma’ayan Baruch, Bara’m, Manara, Yiftach, Malkia, Misgav Am, Yir’on, Dafna, Arab al-Aramshe, Shlomi, Netu’a, Ya’ara, Shtula, Matat, Zari’t, Shomera, Betzet, Adamit, Rosh HaNikram, Hanita and Kfar Giladi.
These communities include Jewish and Arab communities. Arab al-Aramshe for instance is a Bedouin community and Ghajar is an Alewite community (Alewites are a splinter group from early Shi'ism). The evacuations also affect foreign workers who work in many of these communities. The attacks from Hezbollah have killed and wounded residents of the border. A soldier was killed yesterday and two foreign workers were injured in an attack over the weekend.
The North has seen a major increase in Hezbollah threats in the last week. This has included frequent use of anti-tank missiles on a daily basis and also other types of attacks. The IDF said overnight that a rocket was launched toward an IDF UAV in the area of the border with Lebanon. “The IDF Aerial Defense Array intercepted the rocket, and the aircraft was not damaged. In response, IDF aircraft struck the military compound from which the rocket was launched.”
The military also said that “IDF fighter jets struck Hezbollah military infrastructure and observation equipment.” In addition “IDF soldiers identified a terrorist cell attempting to launch anti-tank missiles toward the Avivim area along the border with Lebanon. IDF soldiers struck the cell before it was able to carry out the attack.”
Evacuation of border communities has become a new method in this multi-front conflict. Israel had already evacuated the 20 communities by the Gaza Strip, many of them devastated in the October 7 massacre. In addition, Sderot was evacuated during the first week. Many residents of Netivot and Ashkelon have also left due to the constant rocket fire. The overall number of people evacuated is not clear, but there could be between 100,000 and 200,000 people affected.
Israel’s Defense Ministry says “As of today, around 120,000 Israelis are taking part in national programs for either revitalization or evacuation. Evacuation involves decisions made in accordance with the IDF's recommendations, primarily driven by operational considerations in combat-affected areas. Revitalization entails relocation efforts aimed at enhancing personal and community resilience.”
According to their data the people being evacuated have been able to move to 234 locations or guest houses and hotels around the country. This includes those evacuated from 25 communities within 4 km. of the Gaza border, a total of 16,000 people. A total of 31,000 from Sderot have also been able to move via the “revitalization” program.
Israel has also provided “revitalization” to areas located between 4 and 7 km. from Gaza, totaling another 29 communities of 18,000 people. In addition, there has been the evacuation of Kiryat Shmona which is believed to have 23,000 residents.
The ministry also said that communities located 0-2 km. from the Lebanese border, around 27,000 residents from 28 towns have been evacuated. The latest 14 communities include another 11,000 people.