Shlomi Council head Gabi Naaman sat in his office on Wednesday, dressed in an operational vest, and asked his aides not to harass him with nonsense.
In the background, the echoes of the shelling could be heard deep inside Lebanon, and Gabi could not contain his rage. "Every time an Eritrean refugee crossed the border fence, I shouted about failure," he said. "After all, Hezbollah published a video at the time that it was about to occupy our community. So build a concrete fence, and it's not an easy task to go through, but know what the problem is? By the time the army gets to us, it could take two hours."
Naaman continued to speak painfully. "There is a government decision from 2017 to protect a thousand families in Shlomi who do not have a safe room at home, and since then everything has dissolved. Out of a thousand, only 40 were built. We are the largest fence-adjacent urban community. Our residents heard about nearby communities that have now been evacuated and asked, 'Why don't we?' There is a plan from five years ago to dramatically evacuate Shlomi at such times, but nothing happens. You ask and you don't get answers."
Documentation of an attack the IDF carried out against an IDF force, today
"Anxiety about invasion"
Do you have a family?
"I have four daughters, four sons-in-law and six grandchildren. One of the girls got up at night and ran to the nursery because she dreamed that her baby had been kidnapped. Another daughter, a teacher at the school, her pupil fell in battle and she can't stop crying. My wife has anxiety about invasion. I sent them all, at my expense, to Caesarea."
The street in Shlomi was deserted today, in the background the shelling did not stop thundering, and large military forces poured north, armored and leading. 250 soldiers were dispersed in and out of the community to ensure the safety of those who still remained in the area.
Mayor of Shlomi Gabi Naaman // Photo: Eyal Levy
Yaffa Vaknin asked me to go into the shelter in the shopping center, so that I wouldn't be left upstairs alone. Inside, there were quite a few people who came to cheer up together, although from moment to moment the mood deteriorated, especially when news arrived that the north would soon become an active arena.
"Even if there is an evacuation, I'm staying," said Vaknin, who went through all the wars and operations since the Six-Day War. "I'm not leaving the shelter, but I want them to end all of Hamas in Gaza and at the same time dismantle Hezbollah. There are those who guard us from above."
An IDF tank near the Lebanese border, photo: AFP
Tammy asked the person in charge at the shopping center for the key to the shelter so they could lock it, if, God forbid, there was an infiltration by terrorists. The person in charge announced that since it was a public shelter, it had to remain open.
It is at least a comfortable haven since it usually hosts the local youth club. Clean, with great TV, kitchenette. In the next room there is a pool table and a ping pong table, on which Arkady Maron and Alex Belgorotsky played in the afternoon. Alex, who was a sergeant in the artillery corps in the Soviet Union, said that the booms did not scare him, but Arkady admitted that if Hezbollah entered the battle, they would have a serious problem.
Sa'ad Ahmed, a pergola installer from the nearby Bedouin village of Arab al Aramsha, who has been stuck all night in Shlomi due to tensions, is ready to go.
"We, the Bedouin, protect the place where we were born and the land," he said. "We will not leave the village until the last day of the war. This is where I was born and this is where I will die. Do you think there is a situation in which Hezbollah will enter my house? After all, if he kills a Jew, he will kill my family too. I'm not afraid of him. I served in the Border Police and I'm dying to be called up to the reserves. Give me weapons and I'll charge. We are like you, part of the State of Israel."
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