‘We’re still finding bombs, Metula unsafe for civilians’ – Mayor

“If the state can’t provide us security, they should establish a military base here,” says frustrated Metula resident.

By World Israel News Staff

Evacuees from the northern border town Metula should not return to their homes, as doing so would endanger their lives, warned the mayor and a senior army official.

Metula Mayor David Azoulay has been highly critical of a government plan encouraging residents to return to the town, some 18 months after they were displaced due to near-daily Hezbollah rocket, missile, and drone fire.

In March 2025, the government ended subsidies and stipends for displaced northerners, effectively forcing them to return to their homes.

But only 10 percent of Metula’s residents have returned home, with more than half the town’s structures believed to have been struck by Hezbollah fire.

Azoulay has repeatedly said that Metula – the Israeli town that sustained the most damage from Hezbollah during the war – is not safe for civilians, and is actively discouraging his constituents from returning.

“The fence separating us from Lebanon has not yet been repaired and completely secured,” Azoulay told the Hebrew-language outlet Ynet.

“We are still finding unexploded Hezbollah bombs in the yards of houses, and there is not a day that goes by without several security warnings about threats in the area,” he added.

Former IDF Major General Giora Eiland recently filed a petition with Israel’s Supreme Court, which would force the government to continue providing financial support for Metula residents, enabling them to live elsewhere in the country.

Azoulay expressed support for the petition, saying he hoped it would “wake up” the government.

Metula resident Avi Nadiv, whose home was destroyed by Hezbollah bombing, told Ynet that the security situation in the town is untenable.

“I had to spend more than two million shekels ($530,000) to rebuild my home, and I can still see the villages from which Hezbollah launched their attacks, and where Hezbollah terrorists have started to return,” Nadiv said.

“If the state can’t provide us security here, they should compensate [Metula residents] for the value of our homes, let us move elsewhere, and establish a military base here,” he added.