Israel: Defiance in the Face of Rockets; No Appetite for Ceasefire Against Hezbollah - Op-Ed

The once tourist-packed shores of the Sea of Galilee echoed with explosions Friday morning as hostile UAV swarms from Lebanon hit Tiberias and beaches ringing the lake, injuring fed up civilians

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After a night marked by a thwarted Houthi ballistic missile attack on central Israel, multiple Hezbollah rocket strikes on Haifa, and a barrage of drone assaults at cities and villages circling the Sea of Galilee, the atmosphere in northern Israel is one of palpable frustration and weariness - and defiance.

The relentless onslaught has left residents with a growing sentiment against any notion of a ceasefire with Hezbollah, Tehran, Hamas, the Houthis, Iraq - or other adversaries. The Houthi missile managed to reach central Israel, causing significant alarm among the densely populated Gush Dan region, and causing injury to some 15 Israelis running for shelter.

Meanwhile, Haifa endured a series of morning rocket attacks - most of them being shot down by Iron Dome interceptors or falling into Haifa Bay, further straining the city’s already tense situation.

Tiberias and the areas around the Sea of Galilee have not been spared in the last 72 hours either, as drone and rocket strikes out of southern Lebanon and Iraq wounded at least one person seriously from falling debris, adding to the tensions.

In the face of these continuous threats, regional council leaders, mayors, and lobbying groups comprised of northern residents have expressed a clear and unified stance: they have no appetite for a ceasefire with the Iranian-backed group after it has fired 8,000 aerial munitions into northern and central over the last year, causing dozens of deaths, injury, mass evacuations to the south, turning the city of Kiryat Shmona into a ghost town and nearly destroying a score of kibbutzim and villages. Israelis are in no mood for proposals that do not guarantee their security and sovereignty, and allow over 80,000 evacuees to safely return home.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has echoed this sentiment, emphasizing that Israel will continue to defend itself with full force. The IDF is continuing to strike Hezbollah senior leadership and field officers, despite calls from the US, France, and other international leaders to the PM to agree to a ceasefire — with the very organization vowing to annihilate his country.

This report will be updated as events dictate. Meanwhile, please feel free to share this post, subscribe, and help support my efforts to bring you accurate, sourced reporting, and close-up-and-personal slice-of-life scenes here in northern Israel and our Life on the Border - thank you for your consideration: