Efrat Eldan Schechter is a native of the Northern Galilee and never even considered
moving anywhere else to bring up her family - that is until the events of 7 October.
When she heard and watched reports of what was happening in southern Israel that morning, as
heavily armed Hamas gunmen streamed out of Gaza, she was immediately taken back to stories
from the "Yom Kippur" or 1973 Middle East war, when Israel was attacked simultaneously on two
fronts.
"I was terrified. Everyone was sleeping in and I thought it's going to be '73 all over again and
Hezbollah is coming for us too," says Efrat, as our interview in her front garden is punctuated by the
regular loud thud of outgoing Israeli artillery fire.
"Immediately, I woke everyone up and very quickly got everything together and drove to a relative's
house in the centre of Israel."
After a month the family returned to their house near Kiryat Shmona, frustrated because
they're still living on the edge of a war zone - a "buffer zone" as Efrat calls it - well within
range of Hezbollah rockets being fired from southern Lebanon.
"What we fear most is that nothing will be done because Hezbollah are just waiting there
on the border to come in and invade Israel," says the mother-of-three. "I cannot sleep in
peace. I want my government to make sure that we have real security here. If it is
necessary, they should act and destroy Hezbollah infrastructure in Lebanon."
Ever since violence here erupted on 8 October, when Hezbollah fired rockets and artillery
"in solidarity" with the Palestinians, and Israel fired back, clashes in the north are generally confined to a three- or four-mile-wide (5-6km) strip along the entire border.
But they are intense and deadly - nine soldiers and four civilians have been killed in Israel, officials say, while authorities in Lebanon have reported that 123 people have been killed, including at least 21 civilians.
The frontier communities of northern Israel are today like ghost towns. More than
80,000 residents have been evacuated to centres further south, but Nissan Zeevi is
one of the few who has stayed. The businessman, and civil defence member,
shows me around his kibbutz - Kfar Giladi, just north of Kiryat Shmona. The
scenery is beguiling as you look out over the lush, green Hula valley and Mount
Hermon in the distance, but this border has always been volatile.
Like Efrat, Nissan does not believe most people can return to their homes and
businesses until there is a guarantee of a lasting peace. He is particularly frustrated
that UN Security Council resolution 1701, which helped end the 2006 Lebanon war
between Israel and Hezbollah has not been fully implemented.
Crucially, says Nissan, 1701 calls for the demilitarisation of armed groups (specifically Hezbollah) in southern Lebanon. And that, clearly, has not been achieved.
Nissan is part of Lobby 1701, which has called for the implementation of the resolution
"whether through diplomatic means or through a military action by Israel".
"What we are demanding from our government is to take care of Hezbollah, to demolish
the threat coming from those areas of southern Lebanon," he tells me, as he points out
the many Lebanese villages he can see from his own home and from where, he says,
much of the incoming fire emanates.
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