An Israeli town 1 kilometre from the Lebanon border is all but deserted as the threat of a new war looms. Inside Lebanon, residents are also preparing for a full-scale conflict.
In the northern Israeli town of Kiryat Shmona , most residents have fled as the fear of war with Hezbollah takes holdInside a city on the brink of war on the Israel-Lebanon border, Israeli bus driver Tamir Davidovitz makes his usual route around the empty streets, rarely stopping to pick up a passenger.
Mr Davidovitz's extended family, including his wife and four children, are among the 22,000 people who have fled the city and been displaced for nine months after Israel ordered evacuations. From Lebanon, Hezbollah fired across Israel's northern border, hitting Israeli military bases and communities. "As someone who was born and raised in Kiryat Shmona, there isn't anything sadder than seeing this," he said."Our biggest fear is that people … won't want to return. They'll want to be in a safe place in the centre of the country."Just three hours after ABC News left the city, a barrage of more than a dozen Hezbollah rockets was fired into Kiryat Shmona.
Lebanese officials said seven volunteer paramedics were killed in an attack on an office of the Islamic Emergency and Relief Corps in March.Ms Issa's son, Anouar Issa, showed the ABC the area where the men were killed and disputed the Israeli military's version of events.
Iran's mission to the United Nations said that if Israel embarked on a "full-scale military aggression" against Hezbollah in Lebanon, "an obliterating war will ensue".In a worrying sign of the increased fragility of the situation, more than 200 Hezbollah rockets and 20 drones were fired from Lebanon into Israel last week in under an hour, marking one of the most intense attacks in to Israel since the start of the fighting.
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