‘We can’t live like this’: Israeli parents plead for safer schools after Hezbollah drone strike
Following intensified rocket fire on Nahariya and one day after a Hezbollah drone struck a residential building, residents of the northern coastal city demonstrated on Tuesday morning for stronger military action.
Residents of Nahariya protest at city hall demanding better security for their childrens’ schools on Sept. 10, 2024. Photo by TPS-IL
“We cannot maintain a routine during wartime, with our children spending long hours in fortified shelters in kindergartens and schools,” Nahariya resident Eliad Eini told The Press Service of Israel.
“During the rocket siren, the kids are forced to lie on the floor, hands over their heads, in classrooms with windows all around them. This isn’t a life we should accept. A year has passed, and nothing has changed—no new shelters, no reinforced rooms, nothing” Eini explained to TPS-IL. “So why wait for a disaster? We know this situation, where only after a tragedy strikes, everyone suddenly wakes up.”
On Monday, an explosive-laden drone struck a high-rise residential building. Nobody was injured, but two apartments were damaged. Hezbollah claimed responsibility for the barrage.
Israel retaliated with airstrikes and artillery on Hezbollah positions in the southern Lebanese areas Kafr Kila, Kafr Shuba and Tallouseh.
The parents repeatedly referred to the tragedy of Majdal Shams, in which 12 children were killed and dozens more were injured when a rocket fired by Hezbollah struck a soccer field in the Israeli Druze village in July.
“This policy of pretending everything is fine leads to disaster. My child’s classroom isn’t properly fortified, and there’s no way they can reach safety in seconds. This is a terrible option,” Nahariya resident Revital Kostiner Ben-Ami told TPS-IL. In Nahariya, residents have 15 seconds to reach a protected space when warning sirens are sounded.
“I saw the video from my daughter’s school yesterday during the siren, and it’s just absurd, to put them in a situation like this, they are like sitting ducks in a shooting range,” Kostiner Ben-Ami added. The video she referred to circulating on social media showed dozens of children in the middle school’s yard running and yelling in panic while trying to seek shelter as an intermittent alarm sounded in the background.
“Besides the rockets and drones, the danger here is also the potential infiltration by terrorists. I believe that schools are the primary target for terrorists in such a situation. We are living with the fear of a repeat of October 7th. We can’t ignore this and send our children to school as if everything is normal. This is not normal,” another resident, Karin Elia told TPS-IL.
The anger was echoed by residents of other northern Israeli communities.
“We’ve witnessed the lack of deterrence in the north. A whole night of rocket fire, and by morning we’re told that school will continue as usual. We’re normalizing full-scale war here,” Rafael Slab, one of the leaders of Fighting for the North, told TPS-IL.
“Does this make sense to anyone?” the Kiryat Shmona resident asked angrily.
According to figures recently released by the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet), Hezbollah fired 1,307 rockets at northern Israel in August, an average of 40 rockets daily.
Meanwhile, Hezbollah’s aerial drone activity also surged, with 62 incidents reported in August compared to 56 in July, according to the Alma Research Center.
Nearly 80,000 Israelis were forced to evacuate their homes near the Lebanon border when Hezbollah began launching rockets and drones in October. Hezbollah leaders have said they will continue the attacks to prevent Israelis from returning to their homes. The attacks have killed 26 civilians and 20 soldiers on the Israeli side.
Since October 8, Hezbollah has launched more than 6,700 rockets and drones.
Israeli officials have been calling for Hezbollah to be disarmed and removed from southern Lebanon in accordance with UN Security Council resolution 1701, which ended the 2006 Second Lebanon War.
