Tuesday evening. A phone call from a mine that stayed to live in Kiryat Shmona. "I don't know what to do. I can't evacuate because they won't give me time off at work, and I can't afford not to work. Most of the city is empty, there are almost no people and there are booms all day. Last week it was terrible. Fires, explosions, nowhere to run I feel like I'm already on automatic, I'm starting to feel this fear all the time, just don't start a big war in the north, because then I really don't know what will happen."
"I don't know when we will return, because there is a war"
About ten days after the start of the war in Gaza, the government decided that the residents of the settlements in the north who live within a range of 0 to 5 km from the border, will be evicted from their homes and will receive a budget or alternative accommodation at the state's expense. This is over 60,000 people from the north alone.
lilac and her husband, parents of 4 children, as well as Lila's parents, lived in Shlomi settlement until 8 months ago. "In the first days before we turned around, there were constant alarms. It was terrible. What did I feel? Anxiety, depression, fear, the girl passed out, the little ones cried non-stop, it was impossible to stay there with small children," says Lilach. They were evacuated and housed in the "Anna Hostel" in Haifa, got a small apartment and lived together with her parents in a crowded place.
"There were 8 of us, 8 months. It wasn't funny. We recently moved to the Beit Almog apartments to freshen up, where they take all the money the state gives and leave me only a little for diapers and food for the baby. It's barely enough. We want to move into our own apartment. Looking for an apartment to rent But so far we haven't found it. The prices are excessive, the apartment owners demand guarantees that I don't have and on 1/7/24 we have to vacate Beit Almog.
I don't know what we will do. When you already find an apartment, the owners of the apartment want a security check and a payslip, and I don't have one now, and there is a deficit in the bank, so they are not in a hurry to give me an apartment for rent. Nobody cares. I'm really desperate. My husband continues to work, he goes to Ma'alot every day because he needs the salary, and I had a beauty salon in my home that was closed because of the war. We have four children, a daughter who is starting first grade, a daughter in compulsory kindergarten and two small ones: the son is 3 years old and the baby is a little over a year old. The children want home, want their own room. Every day the girls ask when they are coming home. I tell them I don't know because we are at war. There is nothing else to say."
My children need not be afraid
Lilac enrolled the girl in a school in Haifa. "All my Shlomi children were transferred to religious state education in Haifa, and even though we are not religious there was no other choice, and I put them there. What will we do if we don't find an apartment by July 1? We will probably return to Shlomi and the children will be at home with me. I will not drive them outside every day Hello, it's very scary.
I'm afraid I'll go into depression again like I had in the beginning. Shlomi is the infiltration of UAVs, it's missiles, it's bombs. My older daughter faints when she hears an alarm. She goes under the bed and faints. I don't know how we'll manage if we have to go back to Shlomi. The children are crying, I'm crying too, it's really anxiety. No I thought we would get to this situation.
what would i like That the state will take care to take some buildings and house all the evacuated residents until it is possible to return home safely. There are adults, there are disabled people who can't manage, I don't know what else can be done. It is very difficult. If we feel the big holiday? I left the girls for summer camp in the kindergartens, and the little ones, the son and the baby are staying with me. If we have to go back to Shlomi? It's fear. There is nowhere to go.
My children should not hear booms and live in fear. They don't need to hear a UAV falling and explode or see fires. My children don't need to be afraid of terrorist infiltration. This is what will happen if we return to peace. A week ago we drove for a few minutes just to see that everything was okay at home, I closed everything and we ran away. After five trips, she caught We have an alarm. UFOs have no warning. It's straight down. Think it will fall on my house and I am with the children. It makes me depressed.
I want to find an apartment in the Haifa area. I'm afraid to get back to peace. I want to see the house and I'm scared. Every night she says good night to the children and starts crying. I don't want to be depressed but it is very difficult. In Haifa, I take the children out to the beach, to the playground, until the evening. I don't want to cry because the children see me cry, but it's very difficult and we don't have a solution. We are definitely refugees. I gave up. I didn't think I would end up in a situation where I would have to ask for money from the council to buy things for the children. I'm not ashamed anymore. I have no choice even though I know people no longer believe in people who ask.
I want a safe home for the children
What do I wish for myself? A safe home for my children. It will be above and beyond. It seems trivial but we don't have it. I will find the other things. I will look for a bed after I have a house. We will find furniture when there is a house. We will find clothes for the children, but first of all they will have a home and food and no fears and no anxieties. I don't know what the future will bring.
If I agree to go back to living in peace if there is a ceasefire? No, because I don't believe in a ceasefire. Because they are playing with us. They call a ceasefire and shoot. They shoot on our holidays and on Saturdays, so that we cannot celebrate in peace. We celebrated independence day at home and they shot. I'm afraid to go back to my peace. People who returned are families without children or with older children. I have very small children. I feel the change since the war started.
The girls only go to sleep if I sit next to them and tell them that everything is fine, that I'm home and not going anywhere, that I'm watching over them. There is a lot of crying. Everything is crying, and fear. The greatness was not like this before. If someone walks by or asks her something, she immediately hides, frightened, became withdrawn, and the other constantly asks when we are coming home. when will we come back When there will be peace."
Everything is deserted. It's heartbreaking
The high tension and fear that accompanies those who live in the settlements of the border line in the north, as well as the settlements of the Jordan Valley and the Galilee, has risen several notches in recent times. Not all settlements were given the right to evacuate, and among those who were given the right, there are those who are unable to leave or move to another place for various reasons.
bee Lives in a Moshav in the Upper Galilee, a Moshav that until October is considered a magical and pastoral space. Like others in the settlement, she also built a housing unit for rent in the yard, added guest rooms and throughout the year was able to host honeymoon couples and families who wanted to enjoy the views of the Galilee.
"We invested so much to create a magical place with atmosphere and quality, and everything is deserted. It breaks the heart. Starting in October, the place is deserted. But we returned. For a short period we moved to a hotel in Tiberias and traveled once every two days to the settlement, but it was terribly crowded and impossible. We preferred to return home Despite the alarms and the fear, mainly to take care of the dogs and the fruit trees in the yard, on weekends I go to help the children at the center, and on Sundays I return home.
Before they would come to me, because there is a garden and somewhere to walk. I liked that everyone comes, opens a table, plays on the grass, it's nice. In the end, living in the Galilee may seem magical, but it is far from any urban happening, far from cultural centers and close to the border. come here to rest In previous years there were Katyushas, we weren't really afraid because we were used to it. Hear their departure, it's like a long puff, and the boom at the end. Usually it got past us and didn't hurt anything. It seems that now it is more serious and more offensive. Of course it is impossible for them to come visit with the grandchildren. it's dangerous.
Scary. We are a people who learn wars, we are not a coward people. Certainly not someone who lives in this environment, which is a little tougher than the city. But the war is different this time. Our enemies are more evil. They have sophisticated weapons and they want to destroy us. It's ridiculous that they have broad global support with this agenda, but we have to understand that it is what it is. A different enemy than anything we've ever known.
Do I trust the IDF? Of course, do I have a choice? We don't have another army or another country, and it's true that our army has also advanced and improved, but we're in a whirlwind, and it's not exactly clear what's going on here and who's running it. It seems to me that we don't always do In the country, decisions are made with a pure heart and truly out of love for the country. Sometimes it seems to me that the decision makers think more about money, about status, about themselves than about the country and the good of the citizens.
If I'm angry? Right now I'm mostly afraid. You can say afraid that there will be a big war in the north and we won't know how to get out of it. I guess I'll still be angry. Now I'm even too scared to be angry. When I talk to friends, some think like me, and others believe that there is leadership and a way, but everyone is afraid. What will happen to our country? Why do we always have to die here for the homeland and we can't live in peace. And what if there is a big war in the north? It will be terrible."
May they stay close to me and MMD
evil Don't let the children stay away from home. "No camps in another city and no mess. Let them stay close to me, close to MMD. The children are not calm. There is crying at night, the girl wakes up with nightmares, and so do I. This period is not easy for us. Until recently we lived in a kibbutz near the border. Everything was fine, there has been relative silence for years.
When the residents started to evacuate, we stayed a little longer because we didn't think it would be dangerous. It took two days, and then the alarms and the booms and the iron dome and falls in the fields and a lot of fear began. A lot of fear. I don't think anyone who hasn't been through it can understand what it is. A feeling of helplessness, a feeling that you are tiny and have no control and you have nothing to do. The terrifying noise and general hysteria affects everything. Obviously, this affects the children, but also the relationships in the couple, the intimacy, the relationships in general.
Since the war started we are only in tension and shouting. There is no peace. I worked in a store in the nearby settlement, and since the war started the store is closed and I am without a job. My husband works in transportation, the work has decreased a lot but there is a little more, which allows for a small income. We moved to Nahariya, because that's where my husband works and also so that the children can be in the frameworks at least until the long vacation. It's true that Hariya is not the safest place either, but it suited me because I have friends here, and the children have friends, so it's convenient that way.
In past years he was harsh in Nahariya. I keep thinking what would happen if a war broke out in the north. What will? We may have to leave the area completely, we will be like the refugees you see on TV, carrying bags of things and looking for a tent to live in. I don't know how we will cope financially without work and without income. I wish there would be peace already and we could return home."
I live in Haifa, we were not evacuated and we were under shelling from Lebanon and they were from Syria so we didn't have an iron dome and we lived under shelling all the time. In my opinion, it was a mistake that they made them multiply their lives when they were killed, the government would not have been able to and Hezbollah would have entered it this time for two reasons why they entered against Lebanon because Gantz made changes in the army he cut the soldiers and he claimed a small and smart army with cyber and an iron dome and all kinds of devices that only They will help us. Finally, the army had to face the Hamas soldiers. They put the army under different conditions to deal with. Nahba soldiers fight as a commando. They would have done the Timartans in Iran where they were taught how to fight and we put them to sleep. The United States also taught the army of the Palestinians of Nablus and Genin. So we have to fight according to them with an infantry army and with tanks and armored vehicles. Everything is different and also a bigger army to fight against 7 fronts in the sea and only enemies are afraid and even beyond Iran, Iraq, Syrian Houthis, Lebanon, Hezbollah and Hamas will join. We need to prepare an army again. We have gone through mild remedies. I believe we will win because we have no other country. Today, even our enemies do not have a thought or recognition of the Jewish sea. On the contrary, a world wants to destroy us.
Stunning articles. I think there are apartments for rent in Kiryat, Motzkin, Yam, Haim and Bialik
Public transport and metro are available
Of course also Israel Railways. I wish for all of us
Peace and good news. And the main thing is the return of the kidnapped.
Returning to where? The Northern Front - Tomorrow all of Haifa can be the Northern Front, and this time Gush Dan will also be the Northern Front. The leftists who fled and celebrated the unilateral exit in 2000 from southern Lebanon and fled again in 2006 with the failed agreement to remove Hezbollah to Litani have brought us here.
The Oslo disaster on all fronts = North, Yosh, Gaza, legal, international.. We warned for years of this disaster and you chose more disengagement and more self-delusions.