Fear returns to northern Israel towns

Gila Pahima returned to her hometown of Kiryat Shmona in northern Israel last spring, 18 months after its population had been evacuated because of Hezbollah rocket fire. Now, air raid sirens are again sounding around the clock as the boom of missiles and interceptors echoes overhead.

“I feel like we're in constant war,” she said. “You feel like you're on a battlefield all day.”  Israel seemed to have decimated the Iran-backed Hezbollah when their ceasefire in November 2024. Hezbollah's top leader was dead, hundreds of its members had been maimed by booby-trapped pagers and much of southern Lebanon was in ruins.

Hezbollah resumed its rocket fire days after Israel and the United States attacked its main patron, Iran, which has also launched waves of missiles at Israel. Most Israelis support the war against Iran, hopeful it can lead to meaningful change in West Asia.

But a sense of fatigue has crept in, especially in the north, as people repeatedly race back into bomb shelters or take up full-time residence inside them. Many wonder if airstrikes or ground incursions can ever bring calm. “You brought us. You said, 'Hezbollah is weakened',” said another resident, Avraham Golan, addressing the Israeli Government. “Where is it weakened? They are worse than what they used to be.”