Israel’s military is moving 28 communities away from the northern border with Lebanon because the fighting with Hezbollah militants is getting worse.
On Sunday, two people from Israel were killed. They were hit by missiles that came from Lebanon and targeted a village and a military post.
The army said it attacked places where Hezbollah soldiers were located as a reaction.
It also said that Iran, who supports the group, ordered attacks to take attention away from the Gaza war.
Iran said to Israel that if it continues to attack the Palestinian territory, there is a chance of a big conflict happening in that region. This is in response to the militant group Hamas attacking Israel earlier this month.
Hezbollah is a very strong army in Lebanon and has rockets that can reach far into Israel. It had a war with Israel that lasted for a whole month in 2006.
Israeli government minister Benny Gantz visited a community co-ordination centre in the town of Shlomi. During this visit, the BBC asked him if he believed there would be another war with Hezbollah.
“I don’t want it to happen, but we are getting ready for it,” he answered.
The IDF said on Monday that it is helping people living within 2km (1. 2 miles) of the border with Lebanon to leave their homes and stay in paid accommodations provided by the government.
A representative said that the evacuation was done to protect people and to give the military the ability to act if needed.
However, many villages near the border are mostly empty, with only a quarter of the population remaining.
People who live there told the BBC that families had not waited for the official order. Instead, they quickly gathered their belongings and took their children to a safer place in the south.
In a lot of situations, the only people still in the villages are soldiers and local security team members who stayed to assist them.
The towns are very near to the border, and you can see the strong fence made by Israel next to it. In a few of them, you can also notice the Hezbollah observation posts on the opposite side.
On Sunday, there was a lot of fighting in different places along the border line. The IDF and Hezbollah were shooting at each other.
Israel has announced that a civilian has died from an attack by Hezbollah in the ongoing violence. A person in their forties died in a missile attack on the village of Shtula near the border.
Afterwards, an Israeli soldier named Lt Amitai Granot was killed in a missile attack on a military post, as mentioned by Israeli media.
In another incident, a rocket struck the main building of the UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon, Unifil, located in the city of Naqoura. Nobody got hurt.
The IDF said it attacked Hezbollah’s military buildings and equipment on Sunday and during the night.
It was also said that nine rockets were shot from Lebanon into Israeli land. Five of them were stopped, and Israel reacted by attacking the places the rockets were launched from.
On Monday, three Israeli soldiers died when they fought against militants from Palestinian Islamic Jihad. These militants came from Lebanon and crossed the border. Later that day, the Israeli army attacked places in Lebanon after mortar fire, and at least three fighters from Hezbollah were killed.
On Friday, a cameraman from Reuters news agency named Issam Abdallah was killed by shellfire while he was reporting near a village called Alma al-Shaab in Lebanon. The IDF is checking if it’s true that Israeli soldiers shot the shell, as claimed by Lebanon.
The Israeli army sent many more soldiers to the border recently. However, the defense minister said they don’t want a war in the north.
If Hezbollah decides to go to war, it will face severe consequences. Very difficult or burdensome. “But if it controls itself, we will show respect and maintain the current situation,” he said.
Iran’s Foreign Minister, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, said that his country sent a message to Israel. The message basically said that if Israel does not stop its cruel actions in Gaza, Iran cannot just watch and do nothing.
He also said that if the war got bigger, the United States would have a lot of problems and lose a lot.
The US announced that they were sending another group of warships to the eastern Mediterranean Sea to prevent any harmful actions against Israel or any attempt to expand the conflict after Hamas attacked.
Israel evacuates residents along border with Lebanon over concern of escalation
