Tel Aviv, Israel

Israelis rejoiced Saturday at the news that Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah had been killed while also offering mixed takes on whether this would make them safer in the long term.

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Military officials announced on Saturday morning that Nasrallah, who headed Hezbollah for more than three decades, died in a Friday strike targeting the group's headquarters in the southern suburbs of Beirut.

Even before Hezbollah officially confirmed his death on Saturday afternoon, Israelis on Tel Aviv's waterfront promenade said the news came as a welcome relief amid escalating clashes along the Israel-Lebanon border. 

"Absolutely fantastic news, it should have been done a long time ago," said David Shalev, a resident of Israel's commercial hub.

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Also read: West Asia crisis: Hezbollah confirms leader Hassan Nasrallah's death in IDF strikes on Beirut

Although he cast doubt on whether Nasrallah's killing would end the fighting in the north, he said it sent a clear message to Israel's foes in the region: "Don't screw with us."

Hezbollah began firing into northern Israel one day after Hamas's unprecedented attack on southern Israel last October 7 triggered the ongoing war in Gaza.

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In recent days Israel has shifted the focus of its operations towards eliminating Hezbollah's military leadership and "cleaning" the northern border, from which more than 60,000 Israelis have been displaced for nearly a year.

The escalation brought heightened security risks to central Israel, with Hezbollah on Wednesday announcing it had launched a ballistic missile targeting the Israeli spy agency Mossad's headquarters near Tel Aviv.

In the coastal city of Rishon LeZion in central Israel, Shuli Diaz on Saturday called Friday's strike on Nasrallah "an amazing move".

She said she hoped the Hezbollah leader's death would bring peace after more than a year of war triggered by the October 7 attack.

Watch | BREAKING: IDF claims Hezbollah chief Nasrallah 'eliminated' in Beirut strike

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"I think that the elimination of Nasrallah will bring an end to the war," Diaz said. "I believe that this will bring some sort of political resolution. I at least hope so."

Israeli military officials played up the significance of Nasrallah's death, even as they vowed to press on with military operations against Hezbollah intended to facilitate the return of Israelis displaced from the north.

The military announced on X on Saturday it had given the operation to kill Nasrallah the codename "New Order".

It was a message that resonated with Rami Steiner, another resident of Rishon LeZion.

"We are celebrating the death of the number one terrorist in the world," he said. 

"This is an opportunity for a new era, a better world without terrorists."

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