The presence of Israeli tanks and armored personnel carriers was undeniable.
Numerous beige military vehicles had congregated in a dusty field in northern Israel, just a few miles from the border with Lebanon.
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The vehicles emerged unexpectedly earlier in the week but vanished by the following day.
The only remnants of their presence were a few crates of expended ammunition and the imprints of tank treads in the ground.
The whereabouts of the unit post-departure remain uncertain; however, with Hezbollah launching hundreds of rockets into this area over the past three days alone, it is evidently hazardous to remain in one spot too long—whether or not the heavy equipment was destined for southern Lebanon.
Later that day, we drove towards the border. From our vantage point, we could see Lebanese residences on one side of the hilly landscape and Israeli homes on the other—communities intertwined by geography yet separated by conflict.
As we stood a few hundred meters from the boundary, the distant sound of gunfire could be heard as Israeli ground forces engaged with Hezbollah within Lebanon.
There were also the resounding booms of artillery shells and the drone buzzing overhead.
Charred marks disfigured the ground surrounding us—likely a result of the numerous Hezbollah rocket assaults in recent days.
The militant organization—supported by Iran—commenced its barrage into northern Israel a day after the horrific events of October 7 in southern Israel perpetrated by Hamas, which also has ties to Tehran.
Since then, approximately 60,000 civilians have fled from towns, villages, and kibbutzim near the border.
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Facilitating the return of these families remains a primary aim of the expanded Israeli operation against Hezbollah, which began last month and has intensified into a ground offensive in recent days.
We made our way to Kibbutz Dan, situated just over a mile from the border. Renowned for its trout farming, this area was once a thriving community of around 700 individuals, including children who would zip around on bicycles or splash in a large swimming pool.
Currently, only about 150 residents remain. Among them are Shaul and Bilha Givoni, aged 80 and 79 respectively.
Shaul has spent his entire life in the kibbutz, including during the 1948 war that followed Israel’s establishment as an independent state.
As a child at that time, he was compelled to evacuate.
“After that, I promised myself – this is my home, and no one will ever uproot me again,” Shaul stated.
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He and his spouse gave me a tour of their charming single-story home, located adjacent to an orchard where pomegranate trees drooped with ripe fruit.
Lucky charms adorned the exterior wall at the front of the house, alongside an ornament crafted from a piece of metal from Israel’s air defense system and a decorative element made from shrapnel of an incoming Hezbollah rocket.
As our conversation unfolded, the distant reverberations of conflict could be perceived. Bilha confessed that she found the situation intimidating. “Terror, terror, terror—there’s so much fear. Anxiety affects our health, our mental state, our thoughts.”
Her husband interjected to assert: “I’m not fearful.” Bilha replied: “That’s why I sit near Shaul; I can depend on him.”
Pointing to her forehead and then her heart, she remarked: “Shaul thinks through his head, whereas I feel with my heart. We’ve been married since 1969, together since 1965.”
Shaul expressed his support for Israel’s military actions against Hezbollah in Lebanon; however, both he and his wife are skeptical about whether this will enable all families who fled northern Israel to return—which is a declared objective of the Israeli Prime Minister.
“Home is home, but when a person is terrified, you cannot eradicate that fear,” Bilha remarked.
“That’s the reality for many people here—even with the distress of being uprooted—they are overwhelmed by fear.”
Her husband continued: “I believe some individuals will choose not to return—both due to fear and the fact that it has already been a year; people have adapted, found new schools for their children. Why should they come back to this chaos?”
A day after we visited them, they informed us that a Hezbollah rocket struck near their home—disrupting the tranquility but not their determination to remain steadfast.
