two months after the offensive against Hezbollah, the 60,000 displaced people from northern Israel still cannot return home

Where are we with the Israeli army’s war objectives against Hezbollah? The Shiite militia has been decapitated, part of the border area is occupied, but none of the 60,000 displaced Israelis from the north of the country have been able to return home. However, this constitutes the main objective of the army of the Jewish state.

In the north of the country, in the Metulla military zone, lifeless bodies lay in an orchard very close to the border. “I arrived first. I don’t have the words. It was horrible”testifies Aviv, an Israeli soldier stationed in the town of Métoulla, a few hundred meters from Lebanon, and who found the remains of three Thai agricultural workers and an Israeli, a little over two weeks ago. “They were working here, they were picking apples… Fifteen minutes later, there was rocket fire. We then arrived and found them all dead.”

Today, the exchanges of fire continue. “That’s Israeli, that’s us”he said, hearing a loud thud, “You see, the black area right there, these are olive trees that burned after the bomb explosion. And it’s scary”he confides. More than forty civilians have been killed in northern Israel over the past year. There are over 3,000 dead on the other side.

The Jewish state army is now holding positions in an area approximately five kilometers wide along the border, inside Lebanon. But for the moment it is insufficient to allow the 60,000 displaced people in the region to return home.

“We don’t want a war that lasts five years or something like that.”

Miki, an Israeli resident

at franceinfo

Miki is one of the rare residents of Kiryat Shmona, a few kilometers south of Métoulla, who has not left. “The job is not yet finished: holding a few kilometers and a few villages is not enough. However, I feel much better because I now know that there are no more tunnels. We were afraid that someone emerges from this mountain. It’s close. You walk ten minutes and you feel better. I hope the world will help us find an agreement. Because it has to end like this”, Miki preaches.

Some 16,000 rockets, drones or missiles have been sent to Israeli territory for more than a year, including more than a quarter just last month.