Hezbollah tried to gain foothold in northern Israeli cities through covert apartment purchases during the war

Hezbollah attempted to use Arab Israeli citizens to gain a foothold in northern Israeli cities by purchasing apartments through them during the war, Israel’s Minister for the Negev, Galilee and National Resilience Yitzhak Wasserlauf revealed on Sunday.

Israeli media reports cited the comments made by Wasserlauf, a member of Itamar Ben Gvir’s Jewish Power (Otzma Yehudit) party, during the weekly closed-doors cabinet meeting.

“Hezbollah used Israeli Arabs to purchase apartments in Kiryat Shmona during the war in order to try to take control of the city from within,” he said.

An informed official confirmed to the Jewish News Syndicate (JNS) that Israel’s domestic intelligence agency, Shin Bet, had presented a similar assessment that Islamic movements based in Israel were actively working to purchase apartments, particularly in majority-Jewish cities.

The Shin Bet said that during the war, several attempts by Arab Israelis who were encouraged or directed by Hezbollah to buy homes in Kiryat Shmona were identified, JNS said. The suspicions are still being investigated by the authorities, the source added.

Wasserlauf’s comments came after he asked Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to convene a discussion on property tax benefits for business owners in Kiryat Shmona, the largest city in northern Israel.

Most of the almost 30,000 residents fled Kiryat Shmona during the war, as the city was devastated by Hezbollah rockets, mortars and missiles.

Over 30% of Kiryat Shmona residents have not returned to the city, and locals have repeatedly protested accusing the government of abandoning them by neither prioritizing the city’s rebuilding efforts nor dealing decisively with Hezbollah’s efforts to restore its military capabilities just across the border.

Israel’s Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar discussed these efforts with the UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon Jeanine Hennis in Jerusalem on Sunday.

“I reiterated the importance of Hezbollah’s disarmament for both Israel’s security and Lebanon’s future,” Sa'ar wrote on 𝕏. “Efforts have been made in this regard by the Lebanese government and the Lebanese Armed Forces, but they are far from sufficient, among other things, in light of Hezbollah’s efforts to rearm and rebuild, with Iranian support."

This has continued even in southern Lebanon, despite the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) preparing to declare the end of its disarmament and deployment drive, effectively claiming that Hezbollah is not present in southern Lebanon anymore.

However, the IDF announced on Monday morning that it killed two Hezbollah terrorists in the area of Al-Jumayjimah in southern Lebanon, where they “took part in attempts to reestablish Hezbollah’s terror infrastructure in the area.”

“The terrorists' actions constituted a blatant violation of the ceasefire understandings between Israel and Lebanon,” the military stated.

Meanwhile, Wasserlauf’s comments reportedly triggered a discussion on the situation in Kiryat Shmona among the cabinet members. Wasserlauf was said to have called to hold a symbolic cabinet meeting in the embattled city.