Kiryat Shmona () is a city in the Northern District of Israel on the western slopes of the Hula Valley near the Lebanese border.
In , it had a population of . Located near the Israel–Lebanon border, Kiryat Shmona is Israel's northernmost city.
Etymology
Kiryat Shmona was named after eight Jewish militiamen, commanded by Joseph Trumpeldor, who had fallen in the 1920 Battle of Tel Hai during the Franco-Syrian War adjacent to the new town. It had originally been named Kiryat Yosef for Trumpeldor before the name was changed to Kiryat Shmona in June 1950.
History
thumb|Kiryat Shmona in 1955
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
thumb|Kiryat Shmona in 1964
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.
thumb|Buildings in Kiryat Shmona after a [[Hezbollah 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.
Geography
thumb|View of Kiryat Shemona from [[Naftali Mountains in the Upper Galilee]]
Kiryat Shmona is located in the Galilee panhandle next to Hula Valley, about south and east of the Israel–Lebanon border. Its elevation is about above sea level.
Climate
Kiryat Shmona has a mediterranean climate (Köppen: Csa) with hot, dry summers and mildly cool and rainy winters.