Inside the ‘most bombed’ Israeli town that overlooks the invasion of Lebanon
They say Metula is the most bombed town in Israel. You needn’t be there for long to see why.
The Israeli military has kept the area closed for much of the war, telling journalists it’s been too dangerous to visit.
Metula is surrounded on three sides by the border with Lebanon and therefore Hezbollah, the enemy.
It has been constantly bombarded. Anti-tank missiles, suicide drones, Burkan rockets, and Iranian-built Grad missiles have all come its way.
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IDF soldiers take cover as missile warning alarms ring
The alarms went off a quarter of an hour after we arrived accompanied by the sound of missiles being intercepted overhead. The same happened repeatedly while we were there.
Our Israeli military escorts hit the ground as sirens went off while we walked the streets of the town. Metula is so close to Lebanon there can be only a few seconds warning, rarely enough to reach the shelters.
Seconds later the white streak of Israeli Iron Dome rockets over our heads and the sound of their collision with incoming missiles.
Israel’s Iron Dome in action. Pic: Reuters
But the sound of fighting just over the border that erupted after Israel’s invasion on the 1 October this year has subsided.
There is quiet where there was the rattle of small arms fire and attack helicopters.
Locals say Hezbollah has been pushed back from the border.
The missiles keep coming through though and the few Israelis who’ve remained in this deserted town welcome Israel’s incursion over the border, saying it should continue until Hezbollah is defeated.
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Israeli soldiers in a military vehicle in northern Israel. Pic: Reuters
‘I think we need to destroy Hezbollah’
Lior Bez’s family have lived in Metula for three generations.
Why live in Israel’s most bombed town I asked him. Because it’s beautiful he said, not with rockets but it was once and will be again.
How long should Israel stay inside Lebanon?
“Until it will be quiet. Until we will finish Hezbollah. I think we need to destroy Hezbollah to finish them, all their organisation and after that it will be peace and it can be done,” he said.
That is the sentiment of many.
Their government has led them to believe it is possible.
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Hezbollah is degraded but retains fighters and missiles
In reality, Hezbollah has been massively degraded but retains tens of thousands of fighters and even more missiles.
We were the first journalists invited to Metula since the war began, coming the closest to Lebanon’s border since Israel’s invasion. That may be a sign of Israel’s confidence about the progress it’s making over the border.
But Israel’s American allies are reported to have warned against overconfidence and overreach.
Achieving their war aims, returning Israelis to their homes in the north, will require a diplomatic solution says the Biden administration. From our view from the border that seems a long way off.
Israel has still not allowed journalists to report independently from inside Gaza unless they are invited as part of an embed with the IDF.
Israel has approved a plan to capture all of the Gaza Strip and remain there for an unspecified length of time, Israeli officials say.
According to Reuters, the plan includes distributing aid, though supplies will not be let in yet.
The Israeli official told the agency that the newly approved offensive plan would move Gaza’s civilian population southward and keep humanitarian aid from falling into Hamas’s hands.
On Sunday, the United Nations rejected what it said was a new plan for aid to be distributed in what it described as Israeli hubs.
Israeli cabinet ministers approved plans for the new offensive on Monday morning, hours after it was announced that tens of thousands of reserve soldiers are being called up.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has so far failed to achieve his goal of destroying Hamas or returning all the hostages, despite more than a year of brutal war in Gaza.
Palestinian children struggle to get donated food at a community kitchen in Khan Younis, Gaza. Pic: AP
Officials say the plan will help with these war aims but it would also push hundreds of thousands of Palestinians to southern Gaza, exacerbating an already dire humanitarian crisis.
They said the plan included the “capturing of the strip and the holding of territories”.
It would also try to prevent Hamas from distributing humanitarian aid, which Israel says strengthens the group’s rule in Gaza.
The UN rejected the plan, saying it would leave large parts of the population, including the most vulnerable, without supplies.
It said it “appears designed to reinforce control over life-sustaining items as a pressure tactic – as part of a military strategy”.
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More than 52,000 Palestinians have been killed since the IDF launched its ground offensive in the densely-populated territory, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.
It followed the deadly Hamas attacks on Israel, which killed 1,200 people and saw around 250 people taken hostage.
A fragile ceasefire that saw a pause in the fighting and the exchange of Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners collapsed earlier this year.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to retaliate against the Houthis and their Iranian “masters” after the group launched a missile attack on the country’s main international airport.
A missile fired by the group from Yemen landed near Ben Gurion Airport, causing panic among passengers in the terminal building.
“Attacks by the Houthis emanate from Iran,” Mr Netanyahu wrote on X. “Israel will respond to the Houthi attack against our main airport AND, at a time and place of our choosing, to their Iranian terror masters.”
Israeli police officers investigate the missile crater. Pic: Reuters
The missile impact left a plume of smoke and briefly halted flights and commuter traffic at the airport. Some international carriers have cancelled flights to and from Tel Aviv for several days.
Four people were lightly wounded, paramedic service Magen David Adom said.
Air raid sirens went off across Israel and footage showed passengers yelling and rushing for cover.
The attack came hours before senior Israeli cabinet ministers were set to vote on whether to intensify the country’s military operations in the Gaza Strip, and as the army began calling up thousands of reserves in anticipation of a wider operation in the enclave.
Houthi military spokesperson Brigadier General Yahya Saree said the group fired a hypersonic ballistic missile at the airport.
Iran’s defence minister later told a state TV broadcaster that if the country was attacked by the US or Israel, it would target their bases, interests and forces where necessary.
Israel’s military said several attempts to intercept the missile were unsuccessful.
Air, road and rail traffic were halted after the attack, police said, though it resumed around an hour later.
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Yemen’s Houthis have been firing missiles at Israel since its war with Hamas in Gaza began on 7 October 2023, and while most have been intercepted, some have penetrated the country’s missile defence systems and caused damage.
Israel has previously struck the group in Yemen in retaliation and the US and UK have also launched strikes after the Houthis began attacking international shipping, saying it was in solidarity with Palestinians over Israel’s war with Hamas.
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