How one elderly couple refuses to evacuate their home on the Israeli-Lebanon border

Published

3 months ago

October 6, 2024

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The mass of Israeli tanks and armoured personnel carriers was impossible to hide.

Dozens of beige-coloured military vehicles had assembled in a dirt field in northern Israel, a few miles away from the border with Lebanon.

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They appeared overnight earlier in the week but were gone the next day.

The only evidence of their presence was a few crates of empty ammunition cases and tank tracks in the soil.

It was unclear where the unit disappeared to but, with hundreds of rockets fired by Hezbollah into this part of the country in the past three days alone, it is unsafe to stay in the same location for long – whether or not the heavy armour was bound for southern Lebanon.

Later in the day, we drove closer to the border. It was possible to see Lebanese homes on the hilly terrain on one side and Israeli houses on the other – communities combined by geography but divided by war.

As we stood a few hundred metres away from the border, the sound of distant gunfire could be heard as Israeli ground troops battled against Hezbollah inside Lebanon.

There was also the boom of artillery rounds and the buzz of a drone overhead.

Blackened scorch marks scarred the ground around us – likely caused by some of the many Hezbollah rocket strikes in recent days.

The militant group – backed by Iran – began firing munitions into northern Israel the day after the 7 October atrocities in southern Israel by Hamas, which is also aligned with Tehran.

Since that moment, some 60,000 civilians have fled towns, villages and kibbutzim close to the border.

Enabling all these families to return is a key goal of the widened Israeli operation against Hezbollah, which began last month and expanded into a ground offence in the past few days.

We travelled to Kibbutz Dan, just over a mile from the border. Famous for trout farming, this used to be a vibrant community of around 700 people, including children who would race around on bikes or play in a large swimming pool.

Today, there are only about 150 residents left. Among them are Shaul and Bilha Givoni, aged 80 and 79 respectively.

He has lived in the kibbutz his whole life, including during the 1948 war that followed Israel’s establishment as a sovereign state.

At that time, as a child, he had been forced to evacuate.

“After that, I said – this is my home, no one will ever evacuate me again,” Shaul said.

He and his wife showed me their lovingly-decorated one-storey home, built next to an orchard, where pomegranate trees were heavy with fruit.

Lucky charms hung on the outside wall of the front of the house, as well as an ornament made out of a chunk of metal from Israel’s air defence system and a display on a shelf made from shrapnel from an incoming Hezbollah rocket.

As we spoke, the distant booms of war could be heard. Bilha admitted that she found it scary. “Fear, fear, fear – it’s a lot of fear. Fear affects our health, our psyche, our thoughts.”

Her husband then interrupted to say: “I’m not afraid.” His wife responded: “That’s why I sit close to Shaul, I can rely on him.”

Pointing to her head and then to her heart, she said: “Shaul works from here [his head] and I work from here [my heart]. We’ve been married since 1969, and together since 1965.”

Shaul said he supports Israel’s offensive against Hezbollah inside Lebanon, but he and his wife doubt whether it will result in all of the families who fled northern Israel to return – which is one of the stated goals of the Israeli prime minister.

“Home is home, but when one is afraid you can’t force the fear out of him,” said Bilha.

“That’s what happened to many people here – even with the discomfort of being evacuated – they are dominated by fear.”

Her husband added: “I believe that some people won’t return – because of fear but also because it’s already been a year, people have moved on, found new schools for their children. Why should they return to all this mess?”

A day after we visited the couple, they told us that a Hezbollah rocket crashed into the ground close to their home – shattering the peace, but not their resolve to stand firm.

World

Qatar’s PM says Israel-Hamas ceasefire deal is ‘last chance for Gaza’

Published

36 mins ago

January 17, 2025

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Qatar's PM says Israel-Hamas ceasefire deal is 'last chance for Gaza'

The ceasefire deal is “the last chance for Gaza”, Qatar’s prime minister has said, adding: “Failure is not an option.”

In an exclusive interview with Sky News’ Yalda Hakim, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al Thani warned that “peace won’t happen” if there is not a Palestinian state.

He also criticised parties for the time it took to reach a deal.

Qatar has been one of the key mediators between Israel and Hamas in the more than 15 months since the renewed conflict erupted.

Mr al Thani told Sky News: “What we have reached with this deal is the last chance for Gaza. To save Gaza from this war this is our last chance.

“When we talk about peace in general, peace won’t happen without a Palestinian state at the end of the day. To address the root cause of the issue and not to just address the symptoms of the issue.”

Gaza ceasefire agreement latest: Israel’s security cabinet recommends approving deal

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Asked what the consequences of the ceasefire deal collapsing would be, he said: “Failure is not an option. That’s what all of us should aspire to.

“If it fails we will not give up we will make sure it is rehashed again and the parties are adhering to that.”

Mr al Thani said Qatar’s role was as “guarantor and mediators” and that they would make sure the deal is delivered.

He talked about creating a “safety net” for any issues to be resolved before the deal “explodes”.

Qatar’s prime minister also criticised the negotiating parties for the time it took to agree a deal, saying that it was the same framework agreed upon in December 2023.

“Which is basically 13-months of a waste of negotiating the details that has no meaning and is not worth a single life that we lost in Gaza or a single life of the hostages lost because of the bombing.”

He also touched on US president-elect Donald Trump, who he said could “create a greater impact for the region”.

Commenting on how the incoming administration has operated during negotiations, he said: “I believe if this continues to be the attitude and approach for the next four years, we can create a lot of good things for the region.”

Elaborating on the need for a Palestinian state next to an Israeli state, he said: “That’s what we are aiming for.

“And I believe this moment we count on the wisdom of the leadership of the world. To really push for a solution at the end to the day.”

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Israel’s security cabinet recommends approving Gaza ceasefire deal

Published

4 hours ago

January 17, 2025

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Israel's security cabinet recommends approving Gaza ceasefire deal

Israel’s security cabinet has approved a deal with Hamas for a ceasefire in Gaza and the release of hostages and prisoners.

It will now go to the full cabinet for final sign-off, with a meeting said to be scheduled for this afternoon.

A statement from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said approval came “after examining all political, security and humanitarian aspects” and with the understanding it “supports the achievement of the war’s goals”.

Live – Gaza ceasefire agreement latest

If passed, the truce could begin on Sunday.

In its first stage, the deal would see 33 of the 98 hostages freed over the course of six weeks. About half of the 98 are believed to be alive.

The remainder are to be released in a second phase that will be negotiated during the first.

Hamas has said it won’t release everyone without a lasting ceasefire and a full Israeli withdrawal.

Between 990 and 1,650 Palestinian prisoners and detainees will be released in exchange, depending on the number of hostages freed.

Hardliners in Israel’s coalition government have criticised the deal as giving in to Hamas and security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir threatened to resign if it was approved.

However, he said he wouldn’t bring down the government and ministers are expected to approve it.

The ceasefire has been long in the works and there have been false dawns, but on Wednesday a deal was done after mediation by Qatar, Egypt and the US.

Israel has continued strikes on Gaza in the meantime, and Palestinian officials said 86 people were killed the day after the agreement was unveiled.

More than 46,000 people have been killed in Israel’s offensive in Gaza – mostly women and children – according to officials there.

Around 1,200 were murdered in Israel – alongside more than 250 who were kidnapped – in the October 2023 Hamas terror attack that started the war.

Israel has said it wants to wipe out the group and that it’s killed some 17,000 of its fighters.

However, it’s been accused of not doing enough to protect civilians – claims it denies – in a war that’s devastated Gaza, displaced hundreds of thousands and left many starving.

The World Health Organisation has said it should be possible to dramatically increase Gaza aid to about 600 trucks a day under the deal.

An average of 51 entered in early January, according to UN data.

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Flights forced to divert to avoid debris from SpaceX Starship explosion

Published

4 hours ago

January 17, 2025

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Flights forced to divert to avoid debris from SpaceX Starship explosion

Dozens of planes have been forced to divert or fly holding patterns to avoid potential debris from the SpaceX rocket that blew up.

The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said it briefly slowed and re-routed planes in the area where the pieces were falling back to earth.

Tracking app FlightRadar24 said its most-watched flights last night after the “rapid unscheduled disassembly” – as Space X called it – were those holding or diverting over the Caribbean.

It appeared to show several planes flying circular holding patterns, including a Spirit jet heading to Puerto Rico and an Air Transat flight bound for the Dominican Republic.

A Boeing 767 transporting Amazon cargo diverted to Nassau in the Bahamas, while a JetBlue flight turned back to where it began in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

The FAA often closes airspace for space missions and can create a “debris response area” to protect aircraft if a rocket has a problem outside the original closed zone.

Spectacular video on social media showed the debris from the 400ft Starship rocket streaking across the sky, with another clip showing it from the cockpit of a small plane.

Despite the rocket blowing up, SpaceX owner Elon Musk appeared to see the bright side, posting on X: “Success is uncertain, but entertainment is guaranteed!”

SpaceX launched the rocket from Boca Chica, south Texas, on Thursday around 4.40pm local time (10.40pm in the UK).

The flight was the seventh test for the newly-upgraded Starship, which was due to make a controlled splashdown in the Indian Ocean about an hour after launch.

But the company said it lost contact about eight and half minutes into the flight, with the last data indicating an altitude of 90 miles and a velocity of 13,245 mph.

There was some success though – the booster section returned to a launchpad and was caught between two giant mechanical arms.

It’s the second time SpaceX has managed this particular feat and it’s part of its effort to reuse hardware and make space travel cheaper – with getting to Mars the big aim.

SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket also successfully launched two moon landers earlier this week, while Jeff Bezos also had a big win early Thursday morning.

The Amazon boss’s company, Blue Origin, put its New Glenn rocket into orbit for the first time.