74% of evacuated Israelis return to North, but heavier hit towns remain empty – IDF

Part of the increase is from IDF having Hezbollah on the run since the November 2024 ceasefire, with no Hezbollah forces in southern Lebanon and no rockets fired at Israel since December.

The IDF has said that 74% of Israelis have returned to the northern border towns out of the 60,000-80,000 who had evacuated at the height of the war.

This is a significant increase from a few months ago, when the numbers were still estimated as closer to 30-40%.

Part of the increase appears to be because the IDF has Hezbollah on the run since the November 2024 ceasefire, with almost no Hezbollah forces in southern Lebanon and no rockets fired on Israel since December 2024.

In addition, families who had evacuated to areas in central Israel were waiting out for the school year to end are now transitioning back to the North before the next school year starts on September 1.

Despite the positive news, the return is very uneven.

In some communities like Shlomi, the return rate is around 100%.

In contrast, in some places like Metula, which was hit by Hezbollah fire much more heavily, the return rate so far is still as low as 30%.

There is also a neighborhood inManara that was essentially completely destroyed, and there has been no move to rebuild it due to a mix of local factors.

Moreover, while the Defense Ministry has started a push to add and restore safe rooms and bomb shelters for northern residents, it has still had a slow and lackadaisical pace to date.

In February, The Jerusalem Post visited various spots near the border with Lebanon, including Metula, Kiryat Shmona, and Kfar Giladi, in order to see and hear from soldiers and northern residents how their lives had improved since the November 27 ceasefire, and whether they still felt safe after the IDF withdrawal.

At the time, Kiryat Shmona Spokesman Doron Shneper told the Post, “We would not need any of these outposts if the IDF had gotten rid of Hezbollah.”

“We feel this is a historic mistake and that there will be a crying out of generations because Israel could change the reality on the northern border and with a bit more determination could prevent future wars and ensure peace by cleaning out the territory” of Hezbollah, he said.

Shneper continued, “This is not just in our interest, but it is in the interest of the Lebanese people. Nowhere else did a terror organization conquer a country, and the world remained quiet. The Lebanese support the IDF more than some Israelis. Who suffers from Hezbollah day to day? The Lebanese!”

However, later, many northern officials praised the IDF for being aggressive against Hezbollah since the ceasefire, even if it did not knock out Hezbollah completely with a longer ground invasion as they had originally wished.

Security sources in February spoke to the Post about Metula, noting that while the eastern side of the city is better protected by an IDF outpost, the western side of the sprawling city has essentially no protection from the outpost.

In addition, certain soldiers pointed out that there could have been additional outposts, some with even superior vantage points of any potential Lebanese approaches toward Metula, but that some of these were vetoed to avoid friction with Lebanese villagers, given that they were closer to the villages.

In contrast, the soldiers and other sources said that the five positions which were selected struck a balance between giving Israel some advantages of early warnings from any potential invasion, while being at a distance from the villages to reduce friction.

IDF sources responded that the five outposts did not compromise on Israeli security and give the IDF “operational supremacy” in a number of areas, both in terms of intelligence collection and preventing invasions.

In February, security sources from Metula said that they felt less safe after the IDF withdrew from southern Lebanon, but that they also felt safer than before October 7, 2023, because there were three times as many soldiers protecting them, and their presence was clearly felt.

Those residents who have not yet returned may be refraining from doing so in protest over either that Hezbollah was not disarmed or that the IDF did not retain a permanent larger security perimeter in southern Lebanon.

Others are not returning because they are afraid that even if at this moment the five outposts and greater number of troops on the border provide mores security against a weakened Hezbollah, that in three years or five years, Hezbollah will make a comeback and the IDF and Israel’s short attention span will lead to losing their focus on keeping security strong.

Interviewees in Kiryat Shmonah, Metula, and Kfar Giladi said that significant portions of public infrastructure and services, let alone schools, were simply not ready to reabsorb large numbers of returning residents on March 2, when many subsidies expired.

In Metula, repairs of certain houses continue, and some may take years to repair.

The Post in February returned to visit the Metula house of Zami Ravid, which experienced multiple hits after having lived in Metula for over 50 years (the Post last visited the house in early December 2024.)

The second floor of the house was mostly destroyed and causing a collapse of the house onto large portions of the first floor.

Several other houses on the same street were struck in the same barrage.

In February, there had been no progress in rebuilding any of the destroyed houses observed by the Post, which sources said was because of delays caused by public competitive bidding processes for developers and delayed financing.

Interviewees in Kiryat Shmona, Metula, and Kfar Giladi also said that in some cases, as many as 40% of residents may never come back because of the trauma of the rocket attacks, the new fear of invasion that erupted after October 7, and the simple passing of nearly 17 months living in new places with new lives.

Government would need to provide financial incentives to draw new families

Multiple sources said that the government would need to provide financial incentives to draw new families to the North to replace many of the former residents who will not come back.

In addition, Candice Omerod of Kfar Giladi said that some residents would not return because the government had reneged on paying for safe rooms. Originally, she said Kfar Giladi was guaranteed full financial reimbursement to pay for safe rooms because it is only around one kilometer from the border.

However, later she said the village was told that due to budget shortfalls, the government would only cover part of the safe room cost, leaving villagers to cover between NIS 20,000-70,000 out of pocket – something which many residents cannot afford.