Half a million Israelis displaced by war

Around 50 communities near the Gaza and Lebanon borders have been evacuated.

By JNS | | Topics: Gaza, Hamas
Volunteers in Sderot prepare food packages for residents evacuating the city, Oct. 15, 2023. Photo by Eitan Elhadez-Barak/TPS.
Volunteers in Sderot prepare food packages for residents evacuating the city, Oct. 15, 2023. Photo by Eitan Elhadez-Barak/TPS.

Almost 500,000 Israelis have been displaced by the war, an Israel Defense Forces spokesperson said on Tuesday.

“There are about half a million internally displaced Israelis at the time,” Lt.-Col. (res.) Jonathan Conricus said during a briefing for reporters.

More than 20 communities near the Gaza Strip have been evacuated as the army gears up for a ground offensive.

Another 28 communities within two km. of the Lebanese border have also been evacuated. In recent days, Hezbollah has fired anti-tank rockets into Israel.

The evacuations come on the heels of an Oct. 7 assault by Hamas on Israeli communities near the Gaza border that caught Israelis off-guard. Fighting raged for days as the IDF initially struggled to clear out the terrorists. Terrorists have killed more than 1,400 Israelis and wounded over 4,100 others. At least 199 hostages were taken to Gaza.

Meanwhile, the IDF killed four people trying to infiltrate Israel from Lebanon on Tuesday morning. And in Metula, Israel’s northernmost town, an anti-tank rocket fired from Lebanon wounded three people. IDF tanks fired in response towards the source of the fire.

The army declared Metula a closed military zone and ordered the remaining residents there and in the city of Kiryat Shmona to enter bomb shelters until further notice.

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