But there are some in these northern communities who have refused to evacuate during the nearly 14 months of war, staying in abandoned towns regularly hit by Hezbollah rockets and shells.
Chris Coyle, originally from Edinburgh, is one of four residents left in his apartment complex in Kiryat Shmon.
All the windows in his block – and the windows of buildings 200 meters around – are boarded up after they were blown apart by a rocket that landed on the road a few months ago.
Rockets and shells fell 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 – not enough, so he just lay on the kitchen floor, using the refrigerator door as a shield.
“We need a ceasefire,” he told me. “If it lasts a month, we’ll have some hope.”
For the past year, Kiryat Shmona has been a ghostly empty place covered in rockets, where lone soldiers buy loose goods from the few shops that are still open.
But Chris says the ceasefire will bring the city back to life.
“I’ve talked to a lot of people who have said they’ll be back,” he said. “It’ll take a month or two, but they’ll be back.”
An army captain I met on my way out of Lebanon today said he thought the troops had given Israel a chance to pause and assess the operation.
“I think this is a good time to give it a chance,” he said. “I hope politicians will make the best of it and also learn when to stop accepting what the other side is doing and react.”
