Reports from IFCJ Staff
Friday, January 2, 2009

Since it's Friday and we have to get back to Jerusalem early for the start of the Jewish Sabbath, we get an early start as we head to the war zone in the south. Our goal is to travel to cities where rocket attacks are concentrated in order to get a sense up-close of the situation on the ground, and to let the people know that they are not alone and that Christians in the U.S. stand with them.

As we head down south, we hear on the radio that 7 rockets have fallen in Ashkelon over night. We also hear that this morning 2 rockets have hit residential buildings in the city and that 2 people have been injured. Our plan is to visit Ashkelon today.

Kibbutz Nir'Am

Before we head to Ashkelon we return to Kibbutz Nir'am where we were the day before and which overlooks northern Gaza from a distance of only one mile. If the Israel Defense Forces are going to enter Gaza this morning, we want an overview.

When we reach the entrance to Kibbutz Nir'am, we hear a rocket fall close to our van. We are quickly greeted by several military police who ask what we are doing here. Our explanation that we are here to report on the situation for the purpose of raising funds from supporters of Israel doesn't supersede the military order declaring the area a closed military zone. We have no choice but to leave.

Near Sderot

As we get back on the highway on the road to Ashkelon, we see the trajectory of 3 rockets from Gaza that have fallen near Sderot. As we pass by the entrance to the city, we notice that the traffic lights are not working. Obviously one of the rockets has hit the electrical system. We then pass an electric company transformer grid. One of the towers has been hit at its base. The fire department is quickly on the scene to extinguish the fire.

Ashkelon

We arrive in the city to visit the 2 residential areas that were hit directly. We can see with our own eyes that God protects the Jewish people and that miracles are still happening on a daily basis.

The first site we visit is a block of 3 buildings that configure into 3 sides of a rectangle, with the 4th side consisting of a large sitting/play area in front of the buildings. Most of the residents are Ethiopian immigrants. The glass has been blown out from most of the windows. There is a hole in the ground in front of the building where the rocket has landed. The residents tell me that just before the rocket fell, a group of children were playing soccer. Miraculously, they were all able to scatter and no one was hurt. One of the residents shows me a piece from the rocket.

Next we travel to the home of a family of immigrants from the former Soviet Union, Victor and Esther and their children Alexander and Anna. The back of their apartment is a total wreck where a rocket has landed in Alexander's bedroom. There is debris all over the living room at the entrance to the apartment. All of the windows have been blown out.

Anna explains that her brother Alexander was out of the apartment when the rocket fell. She and her husband had been at her in-laws’ apartment at the same time. The miracle is that her parents are still alive. Victor and Esther had been sleeping when the warning siren sounded at 8:10 a.m. With only 15 seconds to take cover, they both managed to scamper out of the apartment to the protected area in the stairwell just ahead of the incoming rocket.

Anna tells me that residents are in a constant state of fear. "Rockets are falling all around us. 95% of the people in some of the neighborhoods have left. Our building is surrounded by two open areas on either side. We always felt it was possible that one would fall here."

When we leave the building and people see my writing pad, they assume I'm a newspaper reporter and approach me and cry, "Why is the international media focusing on the suffering in Gaza? It's pure anti-Semitism on their part. There is suffering here too. If Hamas wasn’t launching rockets, there wouldn’t be any suffering." When I inform them that I'm with an organization of Christian supporters of Israel, and I'm here to report on what's happening in Israel, they smile and say. "Keep up the support. Get the message out that we are victims. The needs are great and we need all the help you can manage."