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Israel revealed that 427 homes have been damaged in the settlements adjacent to the border with Lebanon since the start of its fighting with Hezbollah and the Palestinian factions on October 8.

According to a report prepared by Salam Khader, the Israeli Ministry of Defense said that 80 of these homes were directly hit since the start of the confrontations with Hezbollah and the Palestinian factions.

The Ministry explained that it is conducting an assessment of the damage to homes along the northern border, and is working to coordinate rehabilitation efforts.

At the end of last January, Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper said that the army had reduced the number of its soldiers present on the border with Lebanon, and reduced its deployed forces.

The newspaper said that local warning teams will undertake the task of securing local settlements, which will respond to threats until the army arrives if necessary.

The leaders of the local rescue teams criticized the decision, and said that they did not know about it until days before its implementation. The newspaper quoted one of these leaders as saying, "They promised to protect us after the war, but they left us while the war was still going on."

Evacuation of settlements

Israel evacuated the aforementioned settlements of residents immediately after the start of operations, after an urgent vote that took place by telephone, and the evacuation took place under the supervision of Defense Minister Yoav Galant, according to Israeli newspapers.

With increasing tension and the closure of roads connecting the settlements, Israel expanded the evacuation circle from two square kilometers to five square kilometres.

Israel was anticipating ground incursions carried out by Hezbollah or factions from the border extending over 1,400 kilometers.

Hezbollah said that it targeted about 700 strikes on Israeli military sites, areas and points, in addition to 17 settlements on the border during the first three months of the war.

These attacks led to the flight of about 50,000 settlers, who were housed in hotels inside Israel, and have not returned to their homes yet.

Source: Al Jazeera