Kiryat Shmona was established in 1949 on the site of the
depopulated Palestinian Arab village of
Al-Khalisa, whose inhabitants had fled after
Safed was taken by the
Haganah during the
1948 Arab–Israeli War and an attempt by the village to come to an agreement with the Jewish authorities was rejected. Initially the empty houses of Al-Khalisa were used as a
transit camp for
immigrants who worked mainly in farming. The first residents were fourteen
Yemenite Jews who arrived on July 18, 1949, and were followed by more Yemenis a month later. By July 1951, the population had grown to nearly 4,000. In the first few years, growth was driven by the arrival of immigrants from
Romania,
India,
Iraq, and
Iran, as well as
Kurdish immigrants from the
Iraqi and
Iranian areas of
Kurdistan. However, later on, waves of immigrants from
North Africa, in particular from
Morocco, arrived. The city was built without a master plan, but rather neighborhood by neighborhood as waves of immigrants arrived.
Security Incidents Kiryat Shmona's location in close proximity to the Lebanese border makes it a target for rocket fire cross-border attacks. On April 11, 1974, the
Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine – General Command (PFLP-GC), sent three militants across the border from Lebanon to Kiryat Shmona. They killed eighteen residents of an apartment building, including many children, before being killed in an exchange of fire at the complex, which became known as the
Kiryat Shmona massacre. The city continued to be the target of attacks, including
Katyusha rocket attacks by the
Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) in July 1981, a Katyusha rocket attack by the PLO in March 1986 (killing a teacher and injuring four students and one adult), and further Katyusha rocket attacks by
Hezbollah during 1996's
Operation Grapes of Wrath. On 24−25 June 1999, two residents were killed when Hezbollah fired a salvo of
Katyusha rockets into the centre of Kiryat Shimona. They were the first fatalities in a cross border attack since 1995 and came during massive Israeli air strikes across Lebanon which caused $52 million damage and killed eleven Lebanese. In spite of attacks from Lebanon, the population grew from 11,800 in 1972 to 15,100 in 1983. In 2000–2006, the locals enjoyed relative peace but suffered from loud explosions every few weeks because of Hezbollah
anti-aircraft cannons fired at
Israeli Air Force (IAF) planes flying across the Israeli-Lebanese border.
During Hezbollah's wars on Israel During the
2006 Lebanon War, the city was again the target of Katyusha rocket attacks. Most of the city's residents left the area during the war, and the 5,000 who remained stayed in bomb shelters, turning the city into a
ghost town. During the war, a total of 1,012 Katyusha rockets hit Kiryat Shmona. In the beginning of the
Gaza war in October 2023, the city was evacuated due to
attacks by Hezbollah and
Palestinian factions from
Southern Lebanon. During the war, there were 129 siren alerts throughout the city: 13 in the first month of the war, 15 in the second month, and 18 in the third month.
attacks during the
Gaza war The city was significantly damaged due to Hezbollah missile attacks, with the attacks causing damage to infrastructure and fires that have decimated the nearby area. Nearly all of Kiryat Shmona's inhabitants were evacuated to other areas of Israel as a result of the war and the terror, with about 2,000 residents remaining in the city as of July 2024. Hezbollah attacks damaged 383 buildings and killed two people. In the aftermath of the
Israeli invasion of Lebanon and subsequent ceasefire, residents began to return. However, as of late February, 2025, an estimated 80% of residents remained scattered across the country. In March 2026, Israel decided to launch a ground operation in Lebanon due to Hezbollah's firing on residents of the north. Kiryat Shmona was shelled and its residents had to stay in a protected area for a long time. IDF soldiers entered by ground, destroyed terrorist infrastructure and tried to eliminate the threat to residents of the north. ==Geography==