Kibbutz Hanita in northern Israel near the Lebanese border (Reuters)

The Israeli Walla website said that the Lebanese Hezbollah attacks raised the level of tension between the residents of northern Israel and the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The site said that tension increased after a person was killed in a missile attack in the Galilee region, in the worst individual security incident in the north since the beginning of the aggression on Gaza. Despite this, the Israeli government avoids issuing official evacuation orders for settlements in the north, for reasons including fear of paying large compensation.

In a report entitled “The North is left to its fate: They are killing us and the government does not respond firmly,” the site’s economic affairs correspondent, Liat Ron, quoted Eitan Davidi, head of the Margaliot settlement - where the attack occurred - as saying, “We are easy targets. They leave us here to pay less compensation,” and he adds, “I am not afraid.” "Hezbollah, but our government."

An Indian worker was killed and 7 people were injured, two of them seriously, when an anti-tank missile fired from Lebanon struck a chicken coop in the settlement.

Gamble

Some residents hold the government and the northern leadership of the Israeli army responsible for what happened, because if they had “purified” - as they say - the parties overlooking the settlements, the attack would not have occurred. They also hold them responsible for the deterioration of the security situation in the north in general.

According to the head of the settlement, the Israeli government wants a kind of normal life to prevail in the north, but in doing so it is gambling with the lives of farmers, without properly calculating the risks, and even if these risks exist, they are at the expense of farmers and foreign workers.

Davidi added that the issue of compensation is at the heart of the decision not to issue official evacuation orders. Once there is a comprehensive order that prevents farmers, for example, from leaving their homes to inspect chicken coops, they will automatically receive compensation, which is what the government fears.

She points out that if they are left with the choice to make the decision, they bear responsibility, and if they decide to kill the chickens, they will put themselves in a maze that may or may not end with compensation.

In the wake of a devastating war waged by Israel on the Gaza Strip since October 7, 2023, Hezbollah and Palestinian factions in Lebanon have exchanged intermittent bombardment with the Israeli army on a daily basis since October 8, resulting in deaths and injuries on both sides of the dividing “Blue Line.”

The Israeli war on Gaza left tens of thousands of civilian victims, most of them children and women, in addition to an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe and massive destruction of infrastructure, which led to Tel Aviv being brought before the International Court of Justice on charges of “genocide.”

Source: Israeli press