Residents of Israel’s northern border describe life in ‘ceasefire’

Two days after another cease-fire was announced between Israel and the US terrorist group Hezbollah, Yulia Bar-Dan was standing outside her makeshift home in Kibbutz Manara in northern Israel when the familiar sound of a switch was heard.

“Maybe there will be another warning soon,” he told Fox News Digital.

A few minutes later, a notification appeared on his phone warning residents of northern Israel to take cover.

For Bar-Dan, the incident captured the reality of life on Israel’s northern border nearly two years after Hezbollah joined the war against Israel on Oct. 8, 2023.

After Hezbollah entered the latest war in support of Iran, Washington launched a diplomatic effort aimed at turning the ceasefire into a broader plan for Lebanon.

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Many talks between Israeli and Lebanese officials have taken place in Washington, and President Donald Trump has repeatedly announced a cease-fire agreement aimed at bringing peace to the border. Residents of communities like Manara say the rockets, drones and uncertainty have never really gone away.

“The ceasefire should be on both sides,” he said. “Not that Hezbollah keeps shooting at us and we keep taking them.”

When Fox News Digital first spoke to Bar-Dan in December 2024 during the war, she and her husband had fled Manara, Israel, with their three children and were living out of a hotel room, unsure if they would ever return home.

Today, about 200 of the kibbutz’s 280 residents have returned, Bar-Dan said. But many, including Bar-Dan’s family, are no longer able to live in their homes due to war damage.

Yulia Bar-Dan and her husband were photographed during quiet moments at Kibbutz Manara, Israel. (Yulia Bar-Dan)

Despite repeated ceasefire announcements, residents say normal life remains difficult.

“There hasn’t been a normal or quiet day since February,” she said.

Schools officially opened in early June, but Bar-Dan decided not to send his children.

“They take the bus to school,” he said. “What if there’s a siren on the way? I can’t take that chance.”

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Hezbollah terrorists with guns are shown in this photo. (Fadel Itani/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

His frustration is not only directed at Hezbollah.

Like many residents interviewed by Fox News Digital, Bar-Dan says there is a growing disconnect between the reality found at the border and the reality defined by politicians.

“It doesn’t matter where the decisions are made,” he said. “Decisions need to be in line with reality. Right now there is a decision, but the reality is completely different.”

A year and a half after most of the residents of Manara were evacuated due to fear of Hezbollah attacks, community leader Yochai Wolfin says the residents have made a name for themselves in the current situation.

“We call it the ‘war to end the war,'” he said.

This expression has become common in society.

It took a year and a half to get out. Then it was time to come home. Then came what Wolfin described as three months of “fire between cease-fires.”

Uncertainty has become part of everyday life.

Children study inside shelters. Parts of the kibbutz still lack secure rooms. Construction works remain unfinished because contractors are unwilling to work near the border.

He said many citizens are increasingly feeling that the decisions that determine their future are made far from the communities that bear the consequences.

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A Lebanese man holds a Hezbollah flag near the border with Israel in the southern Lebanese town of Hula on December 20, 2020. (Jalaa Marey/AFP)

“Who knows tomorrow?” Wolfin said. “We know who is calling the shots. We saw it a few days ago when Trump announced another ceasefire. But for us, the truth has not changed.”

The comments come as Hezbollah Secretary-General Naim Qassem warned on Thursday that northern Israel will remain unsafe as long as Israeli strikes continue in Lebanon, according to Reuters.

In a written statement broadcast on June 4, 2026, Qassem criticized the Washington draft as “absurd, humiliating, insulting,” which he called a surrender guide.

For residents of Israel’s northern border communities, the statements underscored what many say they have been experiencing for months: a ceasefire that exists on paper but not in daily life.

Naor Shamia, who heads Manara’s emergency response team, says residents are increasingly worried that temporary emergency measures will become permanent.

“There is no fear today,” he said. “The fear is that this will last for years. We are in a critical situation.”

Across the border region, similar concerns are being heard.

A fire broke out at Kibbutz Manara following another attack. (Kibbutz Manara)

In the community of Adamit, resident Yael Cohen-Arazi described the contrast between the beauty that surrounds her and the reality of living under constant threat.

“Every morning I wake up and think I’m living in paradise,” he said in footage provided to Fox News Digital by Israeli news agency TPS-IL. “Then there are fireworks that shake my soul.”

His children, he said, have spent most of their lives in flames and don’t know what it’s like anymore.

“I tell them that there are children who cannot live like this,” he said.

Back in Manara, Israel, another warning interrupted the afternoon.

Bar-Dan says he is not angry anymore. Mostly, you are tired and depressed.

“I feel bad for the soldiers,” he said. “Every day someone else gets hurt, and there’s still no solution.”

However, he insists that he will stay.

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Members of Kibbutz Manara’s rapid response unit respond to a Hezbollah rocket attack on Kibbutz Manara. (Kibbutz Manara)

“This is our home,” he said. “One must stay within the borders of this country.”

Then there was another explosion in the distance.