‘Why do we have to fight?’: Life on the Israel-Lebanon border as missiles are sent back and forth
The two Israeli soldiers standing guard at the entrance wave us through the large eclectic yellow gates so familiar to Israel’s kibbutzim, and we drive into Sasa, a village high in the western Galilee and a microcosm of Israel’s north.
Five hundred people lived here in peacetime, now only 13 remain, the rest gone under a mandatory evacuation order from the government.
In all, almost 100,000 Israelis have been forced to leave their homes along the border and are now living in hotel rooms around the country.
At the top of the hill we walk cautiously past metal barriers and warning tape, cautioning against what is beyond: southern Lebanon, Hezbollah-controlled Lebanon, barely a kilometre in front.
The actual border itself is rarely visible, hidden behind the rolling hills, occasionally emerging as it zigzags along the contours, still the subject of dispute 18 years after the last war, in 2006.
Metal barriers and tape warning of the proximity to southern Lebanon
Under a United Nations resolution that followed the ending of that conflict, a demilitarised buffer zone was agreed, between the Blue Line of UN barrels that marks the unofficial border and the Litani River which runs between four and 20km from the Israeli border.
Hezbollah has breached that, positioning its fighters and building posts close to Israeli territory. Only last September, when we were filming a report on the increased tensions then, I saw Hezbollah fighters literally yards from IDF soldiers along the border.
Israel points out this is a clear violation of UN law and must be corrected – it is being used to legitimise its daily bombardment of Hezbollah in recent weeks. UN peacekeeping forces in southern Lebanon are largely ineffective and powerless to intervene.
One of the kibbutz leaders, Yehuda Livne, has remained along with his wife Angelica to protect the community and make sure essential work can still be done, like the recent apple harvest.
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Smoke from an explosion could be seen in the distance
‘We did it with our Arab friends’
“We recently finished, every apple picked, and we did it with our Arab friends,” Angelica tells me, smiling. “Three thousand tonnes!”
Northern Israel, unlike many parts of the country, is characterised by the largely peaceful coexistence of Jews, Muslims and Christians. It’s something they’re proud of.
Yehuda then points out a crater in the orchard below, where a Hezbollah rocket landed. The kibbutz, like many along the border, has been in the line of almost daily fire since 7 October.
The blown-out windows of the auditorium
A few weeks ago, the school auditorium took a direct hit from an anti-tank missile – the use of these weapons has become more regular since Israel pushed many Hezbollah fighters out of the range of guns, but unlike rockets, which fly in an arc, anti-tank missiles have a flatter trajectory and so are difficult to shoot down with the Iron Dome defence system. And they’re accurate.
The auditorium is a mess. Windows blown out, a heavy metal door twisted from the explosion and smoke scars up the walls. What would have happened had the school been open doesn’t bear thinking about.
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Israeli tank ‘hit’ in Hezbollah footage
‘It’s a small war’
Yehuda and Angelica have moved house, a little further back and out of the firing line. They sleep in a small, dark safe room on the ground floor, the window covered by armoured sheeting and an emergency filtration system installed to give them clean air in the event of a chemical attack.
“There is a war because every day they’re shooting and we’re shooting back, so actually there is a war also in the north, but it’s not a big war, it’s a small war,” says Yehuda.
Like many kibbutz residents, the Livnes are lightly political and want peace with their Arab neighbours.
“What will be the future if all dream of peace and dialogue is finished?” Angelica asks. “I don’t want to believe it’s finished.
“What can we do? What can I do to speak with them, to explain to Palestinian people that we want to be together? That there can be two states you know, and we can help each other because there is so many intelligent people, so many good people. Why, why, why do we have to fight?”
Sarit Zehavi, the founder and president of the Alma Research Group
‘The feeling is that we’re being hunted’
For many here, safety won’t come with the end of missile attacks, it needs to be more than that, a permanent change in the status along the border.
“The feeling is that we’re being hunted,” says Sarit Zehavi, the founder and president of the Alma Research Group, a non-governmental organisation that monitors and analyses Hezbollah.
“Hezbollah wrote the plan that Hamas executed, and it could happen again. Here, you hear the war all the time.
“We can no longer trust our understanding of the intentions of the other side. We can only trust the elimination of the threat, and the threat by Hezbollah is bigger than the threat by Hamas.”
Life cannot return until Hezbollah is pushed back
If people here are undecided whether they want a war to force the issue or diplomacy to prevail, they are unanimously clear on one thing: life cannot return until Hezbollah is pushed back, far enough not to be an immediate threat.
Hezbollah is thought to have a tunnel network much bigger and more sophisticated than Hamas’s in Gaza. It runs deep under the hills around the border, popping up within metres of Israeli villages.
Residents of northern Israel are now worried Hezbollah will come across the border, like Hamas did on 7 October.
“I don’t have any ideology about war or peace, I want the effective way,” Sarit tells me. “If we find a way to do it peacefully, fine. The problem is that Hezbollah will not do that.
“So if you find any diplomatic solution that takes the rockets out of the homes of the Lebanese, one home after the other, and will block all the tunnels, one tunnel after the other, okay.
“If you find an international force that can do that, fine. But until today, it hasn’t happened.”
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Hezbollah leader warns Israel
Hezbollah will remain too close for Israel’s liking
With many of the villages evacuated and the military already on a war footing, there are some senior Israeli politicians and commanders who believe now is the moment to invade southern Lebanon. There will be no better opportunity to change the dynamic once and for all, they argue.
A war with Hezbollah would be difficult though, and extremely bloody for Israel. Hezbollah is much better armed and better trained than Hamas. Its fighters have recent battle experience in Syria and its arsenal is thought to be in excess of 150,000 missiles, some of which can reach the southern tip of Israel and strike with precision.
Hassan Nasrallah has been open about where it would target – Israel’s government buildings, the main airport outside Tel Aviv, electrical plants and water works. Such is its firepower, it could potentially overwhelm the Iron Dome system.
If there was a ceasefire in Gaza, Hezbollah might stop its attacks on Israel, but it will remain on, or close to the border. Too close for Israel’s liking.
Israel pounded the outskirts of Gaza City overnight, as Benjamin Netanyahu’s government vowed to press on with a planned offensive on the city.
Families streamed out of the city as the explosions hit.
“I stopped counting the times I had to take my wife and three daughters and leave my home in Gaza City,” said Mohammad, 40.
“No place is safe, but I can’t take the risk. If they suddenly begin the invasion, they will use heavy fire.”
Mahmoud Abedrabo mourns over the body of his son Hamada in Gaza City on 24 August. Pic: Reuters
Others said they would prefer to die and not leave.
“We are not leaving, let them bomb us at home,” said Aya, 31, who has a family of eight, adding that they couldn’t afford to buy a tent or pay for the transportation.
“We are hungry, afraid and don’t have money,” she said.
Mourners pray next to the body of Palestinian boy Hamada Abedrabo on 24 August. Pic: Reuters
Witnesses said that overnight they heard nonstop explosions in Zeitoun and Shejaia.
Tanks shelled houses and roads in Sabra, and buildings were blown up in Jabalia.
On Sunday, the IDF said its forces had returned to combat in Jabalia to strengthen its control of the area and dismantle militant tunnels.
Smoke rises following an Israeli strike in Gaza City. Pic: Reuters
It added that the operation there “enables the expansion of combat into additional areas and prevents Hamas terrorists from returning to operate in these areas.”
This month, Israel approved a plan to seize control of Gaza City. The offensive isn’t expected to start for another few weeks.
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In the meantime, mediators in Egypt and Qatar are trying to resume ceasefire talks between the two sides.
On Friday, Israel’s defence minister Israel Katz said that Gaza City will be razed unless Hamas releases all its remaining hostages and ends the war on Israel’s terms.
Mourners transport the body of Ahmed Balata on 24 August. Pic: Reuters
Around half of Gaza’s two million residents currently live in the city and on Friday a global hunger monitor said that Gaza City and its surrounding areas are officially suffering from famine that will likely spread.
Israel said the monitor ignores steps Israel has taken since late July to increase aid supplies into and across Gaza.
Eight more people died of malnutrition and starvation in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry on Saturday.
281 people, including 114 children, have now died of malnutrition and starvation since the war started, according to the ministry.
The war began on 7 October 2023, when Hamas-led gunmen killed around 1,200 people in southern Israel, mainly civilians, and took 251 hostages.
Since then, Israel has killed at least 62,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza health ministry, and internally displaced nearly its entire population.
Two married couples have died after a British car veered off the road and crashed in Germany, according to police.
The fatal accident happened shortly after midnight on Saturday in the trees near a highway in the Kassel district, north of Hesse in central Germany.
The 32-year-old male driver, a 31-year-old female passenger, a 32-year-old female passenger, and a 30-year-old female passenger all died at the scene, despite the efforts of German emergency services.
Sky News understands UK officials have not been contacted for assistance.
At roughly 12.30am on Saturday, the car appears to have veered off the road and crashed into nearby trees around 30m from the road, according to the Kassel police department.
Pic: Feuerwehr Reinhardshagen
One of the victim’s phones automatically alerted the emergency services to the incident, who sent an ambulance to the scene.
Soon, fire engines, ambulances, command vehicles and emergency support vehicles were all dispatched.
When emergency workers arrived, the car was lying on its side, wedged between several trees.
It wasn’t until they removed the roof that they found all four passengers.
Pic: Feuerwehr Reinhardshagen
The accident happened on Highway L3229
The emergency workers who dealt with the victims were immediately supported by the specialist mental health workers at the fire station in Reinhardshagen.
“This high number of deaths is an extraordinary operation for our Reinhardshagen Volunteer Fire Department,” said a fire department spokesperson.
“For some of the emergency personnel, it is the first time they have been confronted with death in this way.
“Therefore, a great deal is being done to help us process these images. We will also discuss this among ourselves and within families, because not everyone can easily shake off what they have seen.”
An investigation into the accident is ongoing and is being conducted by the Hofgeismar police station.
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