On Monday, Nov. 18, a missile launched by Hezbollah in Lebanon landed in the Palestinian city of Shefa-Amr in northern Israel. Safa Awad, a 50-year-old schoolteacher and mother of four, had taken shelter in her reinforced safe room after rocket sirens sounded in the community. But the missile evaded Israel’s Iron Dome defense system and landed directly on Awad’s house, killing her.
Awad joined a growing list of at least 48 civilians killed in northern Israel by Hezbollah rockets, or falling shrapnel caused by their interception, since the war began in October 2023. Yet those casualties are not being borne equally: despite comprising only one-fifth of the state’s population, Palestinians represent more than 58 percent of the victims, according to figures published this week by the NGO Sikkuy-Aufoq.
The casualty rate in northern Israel has increased sharply since the Israeli military launched its ground invasion into southern Lebanon on Oct. 1 of this year, with 19 killed in that period alone. Six of these casualties were Palestinians, alongside eight Israeli Jews and five foreign workers.