Israel northern border residents describe life in the ‘ceasefire war’

Two days after a new ceasefire was declared between Israel and the U.S. terrorist organization Hezbollah, the familiar voice of an interceptor echoed overhead as Yulia Bar-Dan stood outside her temporary home on Kibbutz Manara in northern Israel.

“There will probably be another siren going off soon,” he told Fox News Digital.

Minutes later, an alert appeared on his phone urging residents of northern Israel to seek shelter.

According to Bar-Dan, the scene reflected the reality of life on Israel’s northern border nearly two years after Hezbollah joined the war against Israel on October 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 arrangement for Lebanon.

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Multiple meetings have been held in Washington between Israeli and Lebanese officials, and President Donald Trum has repeatedly announced ceasefire agreements aimed at restoring calm along the border. Residents of communities like Manara, Israel, say the rockets, drones and uncertainty never really stop.

“There needs to be a ceasefire on both sides,” he said. “Hezbollah continues to fire at us and we continue to absorb it.”

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

Today, about 200 of the kibbutz’s 280 residents have returned, Bar-Dan said. However, many people, including Bar-Dan’s family, are still unable to live in their original homes due to war damage.

Yulia Bar-Dan and her husband were photographed during quieter times at Kibbutz Manara in Israel. (Yulia Bar-Dan)

Despite repeated ceasefire announcements, residents say normal life is still difficult.

“There hasn’t really been a routine or quiet day since February,” he said.

Schools officially reopened at the beginning of June, but Bar-Dan decided not to send her children.

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

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In this photo, Hezbollah terrorists are seen with rifles in their hands. (Fadel Itani/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

His frustration is not just with Hezbollah.

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

“It doesn’t really matter where decisions are made,” he said. “Decisions need to match reality. There is one decision now, but the reality is completely different.”

A year and a half after most Manara residents were evacuated for fear of a Hezbollah invasion, community leader Yochai Wolfin said residents have developed their own names for the current situation.

“We call this ‘ceasefire war’,” he said.

This expression has become widespread in society.

First came the evacuation, which lasted a year and a half. Then came homecoming. What followed was three months of “fire within a truce,” as Wolfin described it.

Uncertainty has become a part of daily life.

Children receive education in shelters. Some parts of the kibbutz still lack sheltered rooms. Construction projects remain unfinished because contractors are reluctant to work so close to the border.

He said many residents increasingly feel that the decisions that determine their future are being made far from the communities that suffer the consequences.

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A Lebanese man carries a Hezbollah flag near the Israeli border in the village of Hula in southern Lebanon on December 20, 2020. (Jalaa Marey/AFP)

“Who knows what tomorrow will bring?” said Wolfin. “We know who makes the decisions. We saw this a few days ago when Trump announced a new ceasefire. But for us, the reality on the ground has not changed.”

These comments came after Hezbollah Secretary General Naim Qasim warned on Thursday that northern Israel would remain unsafe as long as Israeli attacks in Lebanon continued, according to Reuters.

In a written statement released on June 4, 2026, Kasim condemned the Washington-brokered framework as “absurd, insulting and humiliating” and described it as a road map for surrender.

For residents of Israel’s northern border communities, the statements reinforced 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 about temporary emergency measures becoming permanent.

“Fear is not today,” he said. “The fear is that this will take years. We are in an impasse.”

Similar concerns are heard in the border region.

After another attack, a fire broke out at Kibbutz Manara. (Kibbutz Manara)

Yael Cohen-Arazi, who lives in the Adamite community, 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 heaven,” he said in footage provided to Fox News Digital by Israeli news agency TPS-IL. “Then there are explosions that shake my soul.”

She said her children have spent most of their lives under fire and no longer know what normal looks like.

“I tell them there are kids who don’t live that way,” he said.

Another alarm was interrupted in the afternoon in Manara, Israel.

Bar-Dan says he’s not angry anymore. Mostly tired and sad.

“I feel sorry for the soldiers,” he said. “There is a loss of life every day and there is still no solution.”

But still he insists on staying.

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Members of the Kibbutz Manara rapid response unit respond to Hezbollah rocket attacks on Kibbutz Manara. (Kibbutz Manara)

“This is our home,” he said. “Someone has to live within the borders of this country.”

Then another explosion was heard in the distance.