With ceasefire holding, Home Front Command eases restrictions in northern Israel
New guidelines allow for schools to operate if they have adequate shelter and for gatherings of 200 people in open spaces and 600 in closed spaces
Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian is The Times of Israel's military correspondent
The IDF’s Home Front Command eased restrictions in northern Israel on Saturday, allowing larger gatherings and for schools to open, as the fragile ceasefire with Hezbollah continued to largely hold.
Under the changes, schools in northern frontier communities and the northern Golan Heights are allowed to operate if adequate shelter can be reached in time.
On Sunday, thousands of children and teens returned to schools and kindergartens in the northern border communities.
The new guidelines allow up to 200 people to gather in open spaces and up to 600 to gather in closed spaces in those areas. Beaches in the area, however, will remain closed.
In other areas of northern Israel, all restrictions on gatherings and schools were lifted.
The IDF said the changes, approved by Defense Minister Israel Katz, were made following a fresh assessment.
The move followed Thursday’s complete lifting of all restrictions south of Haifa, one day after the ceasefire began.
בהתאם להערכת המצב בפיקוד העורף, הוחלט לעדכן את ההנחיות.
המדיניות בתוקף החל מיום שבת, 30 בנובמבר 2024, בשעה 18:00 ועד ליום חמישי, 05 בדצמבר 2024, בשעה 20:00.
ההנחיות המלאות מפורטות בקישור הבא: https://t.co/S1h1hksbPv pic.twitter.com/ULIkV0SFOX
— פיקוד העורף (@PikudHaoref1) November 30, 2024
The ceasefire sets out a 60-day transition period, during which the IDF will withdraw its forces from southern Lebanon, while the Lebanese Army will deploy some 5,000 troops south of the Litani River, including at 33 posts along the border with Israel. Hezbollah is banned from operating south of the river, several kilometers from the border.
The US has also reportedly provided a side letter specifying Israel’s right to respond to any violations of the ceasefire.
The IDF has reported several breaches of the ceasefire since its implementation, leading to a number of strikes on Hezbollah operatives and facilities over the weekend.
One incident Saturday saw a drone strike a group of gunmen in southern Lebanon as they loaded a car up with RPGs, ammunition boxes and other military equipment. In a second incident, a group of Hezbollah operatives were spotted at a building in southern Lebanon previously known to have been in use by the terror group. The IDF said troops struck the operatives, and later upon reaching the site found numerous weapons.
A third incident saw fighter jets strike a Hezbollah facility near Sidon used to store rocket launchers upon identifying activity there.
Separately, the IDF said it carried out a drone strike “deep within Lebanon” against a vehicle that was operating at a Hezbollah missile manufacturing facility.
Hostilities between Israel and the Lebanese terror group began on October 8, 2023, when Hezbollah-led forces started attacking Israeli communities and military posts along the border on a near-daily basis, with the group saying it did so to support Gaza amid the war there.
Hezbollah then expanded its attacks to also target cities in central and northern Israel with rockets, in addition to the attacks on the border. Some 60,000 residents were evacuated from northern towns on the Lebanon border shortly after Hamas’s October 7 onslaught, amid fears Hezbollah would carry out a similar attack, and increasing rocket fire by the terror group.
Hezbollah’s attacks on Israel since October 2023 have resulted in the deaths of 45 civilians. In addition, 76 IDF soldiers and reservists have died in cross-border skirmishes, attacks on Israel, and in the ensuing ground operation launched in southern Lebanon in late September. Two soldiers have been killed in a drone attack from Iraq, and there have also been several attacks from Syria, without any injuries.
The IDF estimates that some 3,500 Hezbollah operatives have been killed in the conflict. Around 100 members of other terror groups, along with hundreds of civilians, have also been reported killed in Lebanon.
