Hezbollah is engraving the image of defeat into the Israeli consciousness, with the Israelis doing nothing but sitting there and just talking about it, Israeli media cited a reserve officer in the occupation army as saying. 

Major General Reserve Eitan Dangote, former coordinator of Palestinian affairs in the occupation entity, informed Israeli Channel 12 that settlements in the north, like Metulla, have endured infrastructure destruction, with more housing units becoming inhabitable each day. He stated that the next target is Kiryat Shmona. Conversely, he noted that southern Lebanon is "fortified in terms of infrastructure."

Dangote's statement is part of a broader context of daily statements and analyses prevalent in the Israeli media, which consistently express profound disappointment in the occupation army's performance against Hezbollah on the northern front. It also discusses the party's ability to control the course of the battle and shape a new reality on both sides of the border.

In this context, the Israeli Kan channel asserted that the survival of anyone in northern occupied Palestine is attributed to Hezbollah's decisions, as the Lebanese Resistance constantly monitors every movement along the border.

'All eyes on the North' 

In a report on the situation in northern occupied Palestine, the channel's correspondent in the north, Robbie Hammarschlag, stated, "There is extensive damage in Metulla. It's only when you're there that you grasp the extent of vulnerability." He further noted that the entire settlement is under Hezbollah's surveillance and has been targeted with numerous missiles in recent days, emphasizing that "the damage is substantial."

The correspondent for the Israeli channel added, "The fact that I'm here reporting is solely because Hezbollah chose not to kill me. This is the reality we face in the north. Those who are alive owe their lives to Hezbollah's choices, as they monitor every movement along the northern border."

Speaking on the reasons behind this, Israeli media asserted that "Israel's" rules of engagement in the north have reached a stalemate. Simultaneously, they acknowledged that "Israel opted for the lesser of two evils to avoid exposing settlers in the center to the risk of missile attacks."

جبهة الشمال.. مسيرات #حزب_الله تغير المعادلات

تقرير: منال اسماعيل pic.twitter.com/KNRZXU9gBE

— قناة الميادين (@AlMayadeenNews) May 10, 2024

According to political commentator Amnon Lord in the Israeli newspaper Israel Hayom, David Azoulay, the head of the Metulla Council, described life in the abandoned settlements on the Lebanese border as a "disgraceful way of life" during a conference in Ashkelon last April.

Azoulay was struck when he encountered a funeral attended by hundreds of Lebanese, including numerous Hezbollah members, just a few meters from the border. In contrast, funerals were held discreetly in the dead of night in the settlements on the Israeli side of the border, with only a handful of people present.

In the wake of extensive media coverage and public scrutiny surrounding the abandoned settlement of Metulla in the north, which served as a symbol of both the occupation's uncertainty and Hezbollah's strength, the recent persistent and precise assaults on Kiryat Shmona have brought it into the spotlight. This has not only heightened its prominence in the Israeli media but also intensified what is commonly referred to as the "terror in the north" within the occupation.