Israel To Evacuate 14 Border Communities as Clashes With Hizbullah Escalate

Israel’s Defense Ministry announced plans on Sunday to evacuate 14 more communities near the Lebanese border as hostilities with armed groups in southern Lebanon continue to escalate. The communities earmarked for evacuation are mainly cooperative farms and kibbutzim. Regional municipalities have been directed to prepare for the evacuations.

Earlier, the ministry had advised residents of Kiryat Shmona, a northern Israeli city with approximately 22,000 inhabitants close to the Lebanese border, to evacuate. Since October 7, Israel has seen an uptick in conflict with Hizbullah, an Iran-backed Lebanese armed group, and allied Palestinian groups along its northern frontier. This follows Israel’s retaliatory strikes in the Gaza Strip in response to the atrocities committed by Hamas in towns and villages in Israel’s south.