Residents of northern Israel's largest city face Hezbollah fire and brace for the worst

HAIFA, Israel (AP) — The sandy beaches of Haifa, Israel’s third-largest city, are empty. Businesses are shutting early, and many restaurants are closed. The only places filling up, as the threat of a wider war with Hezbollah mounts, are public bomb shelters.

Haifa, a seaside city of nearly 300,000 people, is the cultural and economic capital of northern Israel. It has increasingly come into Hezbollah 's sights since fighting with Israel escalated this week and residents are bracing for what many fear will be the worst round of violence since a war nearly two decades ago pounded the city with rockets.

“Everything is lousy. The air raid sirens don’t stop,” said David Maman, a Haifa resident who was out taking a breather from a bomb shelter.

Israel and Hezbollah are locked in their most intense round of fighting since the monthlong 2006 war, which ended in a draw. The Iran-backed Lebanese militant group began firing at Israel a day after Hamas attacked it on Oct. 7, and there have been fears ever since that the sides could end up in all-out war.

This week’s escalation has brought the region the closest its been over the past year to that point, with Israel stepping up its strikes in Lebanon and Hezbollah expanding its fire deeper into Israel, including to Haifa.

On Wednesday, Lebanese officials said Israeli strikes killed dozens of people. That raised the death toll from the past three days to more than 600, with more than 2,000 people wounded. Fleeing families have flocked to Beirut and the coastal city of Sidon, and thousands have fled into neighboring Syria.

Haifa was hit by a barrage of some 300 rockets during the monthlong 2006 war, with about 100 of those causing damage to homes, according to Gil Meller, the city’s deputy spokesperson.

Israel now has a robust air-defense system helping to shoot down incoming rockets and tufts of white smoke could be seen over the city as interceptors blasted Hezbollah rockets in the sky.

But the threat from the rockets remains, and, on Sunday, one slammed into a suburb of Haifa, damaging homes and cars. The Israeli military said five rockets have been launched toward the city since Sunday.

With fear of a looming wider war, Meller said Haifa has opened 110 public shelters for the roughly 40% of the city’s population that doesn’t have access to a bomb shelter in their homes or apartment buildings, mostly older structures. Those shelters are equipped with air conditioning, generators, water and wireless internet, he said, adding that the municipality was prepared to use more than a dozen underground parking lots should the need arise. “Haifa is ready,” he said.

The city has taken other measures to protect its citizens. Some 60,000 children and teens are studying remotely and the city’s main hospital earlier this week moved patients to a fortified underground ward.

About 11% of the city's population is of Palestinian origin, making it one of the few predominantly Jewish Israeli cities with a sizable Arab population. For many, the biggest concern of a wider war is the economic effect it might have on residents, according to Amal Oraby, a local activist.

“It's a blow to businesses. Businesses say, ‘If I open, I lose money. If I close, I lose money,’” said Oraby. Israel's Palestinian citizens are on the whole poorer than Jewish Israelis and so could suffer the effects more keenly.

Outside one public shelter, residents seated on plastic chairs gathered in anticipation of the next siren. Inside the shelter, thin mattresses were splayed out on the floor beside people’s few belongings: diapers, plastic cups, backpacks. Young children, off school, sat inside aimlessly.

“There is endless shelling here,” said Orly Betesh, a Haifa resident spending her days near the shelter because her own home has no protective space. “This is the only place we have to protect ourselves.”

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Goldenberg reported from Tel Aviv, Israel.