Civilians describe living in crossfire as Israel and Hezbollah battles escalate

Geoff Bennett:

As the war in Gaza rages, tensions are escalating on Israel's northern border.

Israel and Lebanese Hezbollah, the Iran-backed group there that the U.S. labels as terrorists, have traded fire since the October 7 terrorist attack.

Nick Schifrin speaks to Israelis who live near the border about their threat, their forced displacement, and how their government has responded.

Nick Schifrin:

For more than a century, Tal Levit's family has called this valley home. Metula is Israel's northernmost town, where Levit runs a farm 500 feet from Lebanon, 500 feet from Hezbollah militants on the other side of his apple orchard, too close for comfort.

Tal Levit, Israeli Farmer:

We are neighbors. And they see us all the time, what we do, where we go, what we make.

Nick Schifrin:

And since October 7, they have been seeing and striking. On October 14, a rocket hit his orchard. And last week, in response to an Israeli attack in Lebanon, Tal himself was the target. This is the aftermath. His kitchen ceiling collapsed. It was a direct hit straight through his roof.

Tal Levit:

They saw me go inside to my home. And I go out. After two hour, they throw a rocket through my home. They think I'm inside, but when I go, they not see that.

Nick Schifrin:

Metula is in the Lower Galilee, about 30 miles north of the Sea of Biblical Renown, and is the only Israeli city surrounded by an international border on three sides.

It's been around for more than 120 years. The Levits are one of the 20 founding families. That's his great grandmother in Metula in the 1890s. Tal Levit is a sixth-generation farmer. That's him in the middle when he was 4 years old. But now he has to start from scratch.

Tal Levit:

My home is crashed, and, you know, I need to make a new home, to build everything new.

Nick Schifrin:

For more than four months, Israel and Hezbollah have traded fire. Israeli airstrikes into Lebanon have killed hundreds of Hezbollah fighters and dozens of civilians. The deadliest strike was yesterday. It killed 10 and blew out this apartment complex. Israel said it killed a Hezbollah commander.

Hezbollah has fired hundreds of rockets into Israel. Many are intercepted by Israeli air defense, but others have killed nine Israeli soldiers and six civilians.

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah promises more attacks until the war in Gaza stops. Hezbollah can, with precision, thanks to Iranian technology. Israel says Hezbollah has 150,000 rockets and missiles that can reach 95 percent of Israel, including its largest city, Tel Aviv. The U.S. believes neither side wants war, but the risk is high.

Today, Israel's Defense Ministry released video of what it called an exercise for a Lebanon war.

Yoav Gallant, Israeli Defense Minister (through translator):

We have no interest in war, but we must prepare. The planes that are flying in Lebanon's sky as we speak have targets. We can do copy-paste from Gaza to Beirut.

Nick Schifrin:

Metula is now a military camp. The chief of the army visited yesterday. The military has evacuated some 80,000 residents across the north, including Levit's family. His wife and four children have lived in a hotel for nearly four months.

Tal Levit:

My family, my kids, it's very hard to survive this, but I tell them, we don't have another — you don't have another place to go. We don't go to USA now or Europe or something. We have Israel.

Moshe Davidovitz, Mayor of Mateh Asher Regional Council: The government don't do the things that they should do to our citizens and to our residents.

Nick Schifrin:

Moshe Davidovitz is the mayor of the northern community of Mateh Asher, and leads a council for Northern Israeli residents. He says trust between the government and those residents has been broken.

Moshe Davidovitz:

The government is supposed to give the residents security, and this contract between the government and the citizens does not exist.

Nick Schifrin:

France and the U.S. are trying through diplomacy to push Hezbollah back at least six miles from the border. But U.S. officials doubt whether that can succeed with cross-border firing, firing that continues even today during our interview.

Moshe Davidovitz:

Now — now there is missiles shooting. I heard it just in this minute. Now we are supposed to get to the shelters.

Nick Schifrin:

There's missiles fired — being fired now?

Moshe Davidovitz:

Just now, yes. So I want to thank you. Thank you. Bye-bye.

Nick Schifrin:

And so the danger to the people and of wider war is inescapable.

For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm Nick Schifrin.