'Metula' mayor: 80K settlers are displaced, no prospect of return
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The mayor of "Metula" has revealed that for four months, settlers have been away and cannot return amid governmental neglect and Hezbollah's attacks.
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Lebanese soldiers stand on a hill that overlooks the Israeli settlement of "Metulla", background, as a man waves the Palestinian and Hezbollah flags in Lebanon, Monday, Oct. 9, 2023 (AP)
David Azoulay, the mayor of the "Metulla" settlement in the occupied north, revealed on Saturday that around 80,000 settlers have been away from their houses for four months, with no regard as to when they would be able to return.
Azoulay told Israeli Channel 13 that "all we [settlers] are asking for is to live in our houses, but we are not a free people in "Israel", adding that "Hezbollah dictates the intensity at all times in the North."
Azoulay also claimed that over the past four months, Hezbollah had been firing and attacking northern settlements, while the Israeli occupation forces fought inadequately and in a manner that would not allow settlers to return to their houses, amid the silence and neglect of the occupation government.
This comes several days after the mayors of Israeli settlements addressed Benjamin Netanyahu and Israeli Security Minister Yoav Gallant in a letter demanding a heavier presence of forces in the North.
Read more: North settlements' economy to worsen amid risk of war with Hezbollah
Hezbollah shakes the occupied North
In late December, hundreds of settlers from the Israeli-occupied Palestinian north demonstrated in protest against the situation along the border with Lebanon, noting that "the government has lost the north," according to the Israeli news website Haaretz.
Israeli media reported settlers pointing fingers at the Israeli government and its leadership saying "He who abandoned the South will not save the North."
Israeli settlers find themselves devoid of the much-promised Israeli occupation's security, reported Haaretz, as they confess, "We are all refugees" and that "This is where the line of lawlessness passes."
Today, Hezbollah launched its 1000th operation against "Israel" in the occupied North in support of Gaza and Palestine.
#بالفيديو | العملية رقم 1000... مشاهد من استهداف #المقاومة_الإسلامية ثكنة "كِيلع" التابعة لـ "جيش" الاحتلال الإسرائيلي في الجولان السوري المحتل.@AlMayadeenNews#الميادين_لبنان #لبنان pic.twitter.com/mx0oV9xZWE
— الميادين لبنان (@mayadeenlebanon) February 10, 2024
