Evacuated residents call for wider war against Hezbollah

Inhabitants of northern towns emptied after 7 October say they cannot return unless militants are pushed back

- Emma Graham-Harrison, Quique Kierszenbaum KIBBUTZ SNIR

Omer Shita does not want another war, but thinks Israel may need one if his family are ever going to return to their home on the country's northern border.

He has put his life on hold - living a long way from his wife and children, working part-time from a laptop - so he can patrol the empty streets of Snir kibbutz, set in green hills with views of the first villages inside Lebanon.

But he is no longer sure the rest of Israel shares his commitment to bringing the evacuated community back. On a recent patrol he stopped to tease a friend weeding the front garden of his abandoned house for having too much hope.

"Safi still thinks he has a future here," Shita said with a laugh, pointing to the man who had briefly set his gun aside to garden in the sunshine.

Hezbollah fighters are just a few kilometres away, in Lebanese hills and villages across the valley. They have been trading fire with Israeli forces since 7October, when Hamas launched its cross-border attack out of Gaza.

Within weeks about 80,000 people had been evacuated. Border towns, villages and kibbutzim are now ghost communities.

Most people will not return, Shita believes, unless Hezbollah are forced back from the border - even if a ceasefire in Gaza brings a deal to end hostilities and the government declares the north safe.

The security equation changed when about 3,000 militants from Gaza broke across the southern border, kidnapping 250 people and killing 1,200.

Residents' fears are heightened by the belief of many in the Israeli security establishment that Hamas copied a Hezbollah blueprint for their attack.