TEL AVIV — Israel's military plans to evacuate tens of thousands of
residents from the north.
Officials said the military's Home Front Command would evacuate at least
25,000 residents from communities near the Lebanese border beginning on Aug. 9.
"There are intentions to evacuate people and communities who have been
sitting in bunkers during the last four weeks," Maj. Gen. Yitzhak Gershon,
head of the military's Home Command, said. "There have been places found for
25,000 people."
Gershon said the evacuation would take place in cooperation with
civilian authorities. He said the effort would focus on removing
residents whose communities have been under attack since the start of the
war on July 12.
Officials said elderly and disabled residents would be given preference
in the evacuation effort. They said temporary quarters were being found for
these people.
"They will go to several locations over the next few days," an official
said. "The places are being prepared."
In the first stage, officials said, 2,000 elderly residents would be
evacuated. They said the residents would be relocated to kindergartens and
military bases.
Gershon said more than 200,000 people have fled the north. Many have
been living in a privately-financed tent city near the southern city of
Ashkelon adjacent to those expelled by the army during the withdrawal from
the Gaza Strip in September 2005.
Israeli sources said about 330,000 people have left their communities.
About 1 million people live in the area from Haifa to the Lebanese border.
The plans by the Home Front reflected an assessment that despite the
expectation of an imminent Security Council ceasefire resolution, Hizbullah
rocket strikes would continue for at least the next few weeks. So far,
Hizbullah, intensifying salvos, has fired more than 3,000 rockets into
Israel.
Public Security Director Avi Dichter said Hizbullah has fired 5,000
rockets. On Tuesday, Hizbullah fired numerous rocket salvos throughout
northern Israel.
"We are observing among Hizbullah that they are experiencing certain
difficulties in bringing Katyusha supplies to the south, apart from those
that have been well hidden during the last few years in civilian cellars,"
Brig. Gen. Yehoshua Shichrur, deputy operational chief of Northern
Command, said.
