METULA, Israel: Ilan Rosenfeld strolls through the burned-out shell of his former establishment, passing metal fragments of Hezbollah rockets scattered among the debris and crackling bits of clay plates that once lined his cafe. It’s all he has left in this little, war-torn hamlet in northern Israel, which Lebanon encircles on three sides.
“Everything I had, everything I saved, everything I built it’s all burned,” he remarked, seeing the devastation of the company he had operated for forty years in Metula, which has long been vulnerable to flare-ups along the unstable border. “Tears are all I have when I wake up every day . After Hamas attacked southern Israel in October 2023, Israel and the militant organization Hezbollah went to war, forcing tens of thousands of people from their homes, including Rosenfeld.
The majority of those displaced have returned to their homes in the north, where they are struggling to rebuild their lives, according to Israel’s administration, one year into a precarious ceasefire on this heavily defended frontier. Others are hesitant to return because Israel has increased its attacks in Lebanon. Many people doubt their government’s pledge to keep them secure, and communities like Metula, which were at the heart of the battle, are now little more than ghost towns, most of which are still half-empty.
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