For years, David Shtift attempted to persuade the Israeli army that Hezbollah militants, located just a mile away in Lebanon, were serious about their threats to attack Israel.
Despite claims from the army that Israel’s borders were impenetrable and its enemies deterred, Shtift and his neighbors observed Hezbollah special forces gathering along the border, setting up lookout posts in structures purportedly built for environmental protection, and sometimes hearing sounds resembling tunnel excavation. Unwilling to take chances, the kibbutz took proactive measures, securing funds, purchasing long guns for the local defense unit, ensuring emergency water and electricity sources, and constructing a military clinic.
On October 7, when thousands of fighters, led by Hamas – the Gaza-based militant group with increasingly close ties to Hezbollah – breached Israel’s southern border, resulting in the deaths of 1,200 people and the hostage-taking of 240 more, Shtift bitterly felt that the concerns of Eilon residents had been justified. David Shtift attempted
“What unfolded in the south is precisely what we had been warning could happen here, and the threat remains,” Shtift remarked. “It’s a stark reality.”
In the aftermath of the attack, a minimum of 70,000 Israelis residing along the northern border have evacuated their homes, transforming the region – akin to the devastated south – into a restricted military zone. Multiple Israeli battalions, with thousands of soldiers, have been deployed. Meanwhile, on the other side of the border, Hezbollah fighters engage in exchanges of gunfire.
This is not an official war zone. Yet explosions from Israeli artillery and Hezbollah missiles echo across the rock-strewn mountains nearly every day. Israel’s military says Hezbollah has used short-range mortars, Russian “Kornet” antitank missiles and thermobaric bombs to destroy homes in the Israeli kibbutzim.