Hezbollah threats in the north: Escalation forces school closures and evacuations in northern Israel

Report by Ahmad Abdallah, English adaptation by Yasmine Jaroudi

As September approaches, will students return to schools or to bomb shelters?

In northern Israeli settlements, school bells have been replaced by air raid sirens. 

Since October 8, Hezbollah has forced thousands of settlers in northern Israel to abandon their homes and schools for safer areas. 

Around 60,000 Israelis have been displaced from dozens of towns and villages in northern Israel, within Hezbollah's firing range. Out of these, 14,600 are children who have spent the current school year in temporary nurseries, makeshift schools, or repurposed buildings serving as daycare centers and classrooms across Israel.

The Israeli government has allocated $38 million to build new nurseries and schools away from the northern missile range, aiming to accommodate children if their original schools are not safe or ready by September 1. 
 
This deadline, marking the start of the Israeli school year, has become a contentious issue in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government, challenging its cohesion and credibility.

However, the schooling dilemma is not the only hurdle for students from the north. 

Many are struggling with psychological trauma and find it difficult to complete their schoolwork in the cramped accommodations provided by the state, causing the high school dropout rate to spike to around 5%, double the national average.

Preparing northern schools for students' return will take at least a month, as some of these schools are in crumbling housing clusters filled with rubble.

Israel faces a significant dilemma: either reach a resolution with Lebanon by August or find an alternative solution for education in the north.