But there are some in these northern communities who have refused to evacuate during almost 14 months of war, staying on in abandoned towns that were regularly hit by Hezbollah rockets and missiles.
Chris Coyle, originally from Edinburgh, is one of only four residents left in his apartment complex in Kiryat Shmona.
All the windows in his block – and those of the buildings 200m around it – are boarded up, after being blown out when a missile landed in the road outside several months ago.
Rockets and missiles landed here several times a day – sometimes several times an hour.
Before Israel sent ground forces into Lebanon to push back Hezbollah positions, Chris had four seconds to get to the safe room – it wasn’t enough, so he used to just lie on the kitchen floor, using the fridge door as a shield.
“We need a ceasefire,” he told me. “If it holds for a month, we can have some hope.”
For the past year, Kiryat Shmona has been a ghostly empty place, scarred by rockets, where lone soldiers buy off-duty supplies from the few shops still open.
But Chris says a ceasefire will bring the town back to life.
“I’ve spoken to a lot of people who have said they’ll come back,” he said. “It’ll take a month or two, but they’ll come back.”
The army captain I met on his way out of Lebanon today said he thought troops had delivered the opportunity for Israel to stop and evaluate the operation.
“I think it’s a good time to give this a chance,” he said. “I hope the politicians will make the best out of it – and also to know when to stop accepting what the other side is doing, and react.”
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