Reports from IFCJ Staff
Sunday, January 4, 2009

The IDF ground forces entered Gaza last night. Defense Minister Ehud Barak addressed the nation and warned that the operation will not be short and the residents of the south should expect difficult days.

Sderot

After leaving Jerusalem, we decide to head to Sderot after hearing that there has already been a Code Red warning this morning. When we reach the city we are met by Tal Mahai, head of Sderot Mayor David Buskila's office. Tal tells us that a rocket from Gaza has directly hit a home in the city that we will visit. As we travel to the house, Tal tells us that the people of Sderot are not running away. The municipality is doing everything it can so that the city can continue to function normally during abnormal times.

Tal explains that a citizen's hotline has been set up and the municipality has been able to answer 95% of the requests. In a show of pride and patriotism the municipality is also hanging Israeli flags along the main roads and highways. Since schools have been closed, the municipality is providing activities for the children in the Fellowship renovated shelters. In addition, 2,500 protected spaces are being built in private homes. Tal also lets me know that the people of Sderot are ready to suffer another month so that there can finally be quiet. They know the path of war was chosen by Hamas.

We quickly make our way to scene where the rocket has fallen on a house. This house is on a block lined by houses that have no protection from rockets. Yochai is the first person I am able to talk to. He lives with his parents, his sister, brother-in-law, and their young daughter in the house directly across the street from the house that has been hit.

Yochai lets me know that the nearest public shelter The Fellowship has renovated is at the end of the block. "It takes more than the 15 second warning we get to reach that shelter. We haven't reached the situation of all-out war where we need to stay in the shelter for an extended stay. We need to stay at home, go to work and try to live a normal life. We've been living with this for 8 years." Yochai takes me into his house to show me the area that the family has set aside as its 'protected' space. There is no inner room in the house. The family has gathered mattresses in an alcove near the living directly below a window. When there is a Code Red siren, the family runs to the space and gets beneath the mattresses in the hope that this will protect them from any flying shrapnel.

We then cross the street to the house of 72 year old Mesodi, where the living room and kitchen in the front of the house are full of the rubble and the bedroom in the back has been completely destroyed by a rocket. Mesodi's daughter, Rosette, tells us that her mother is currently in the hospital having miraculously only been lightly wounded. Rosette had been lying down in her living room when the rocket fell directly onto the roof of her bedroom. A huge piece of rubble flew in front of the entrance door, preventing Rossette from opening it to escape the fire which had ignited in the living room. Luckily for Rosette, a neighbor quickly came and managed to push the door open and carry Rosette to safety.

Outside the house we next speak with Tzippi, a neighbor whose house was damaged by shrapnel from the explosion. Tzippi cries, "We need the whole world to know what's going on. Most of the children in Sderot need psychological treatments and pills to calm them down. The people here are running and hiding every day. My husband and son are in the hospital right now." Tzippi tells us that she runs a nursery school. "The children here cry every night. I don't have any answers for my young children when they ask me how long this is going to last. They don't play football. They can't ride their bicycles. There is no normal development for our children. No other country would put up with this."

From one scene of destruction we go to another on the other side of town. The house of Avi was the site of a direct hit on Tuesday, Dec. 30. Like the other people we have met, he also tells of his family's miraculous escape from tragedy. Avi lives with his wife, three grown children and blind mother. The government had started to build a protected area in Avi’s home, but because the inside of the area is still not finished, it remained sealed with no access.

Avi explains that his mother spends her days sitting in the living room. She had already told him that because she's an old woman there was no reason to make any efforts to protect her. "I couldn't live with that, but I didn't know what to do,” he says. “So last Sunday I decided to take matters into my own hands. I went to a hardware store and bought tools so I could break a passageway into the room through the concrete. On Tuesday morning I just had a feeling that something was going to happen. At 8 o'clock in the morning my son and mother were in the living room. I made them get out and stay in the protected room. They were sitting there when the rocket landed on the roof of our living room. It's like I'm living in a bubble. We're scared and confused.

Avi's 22 year old daughter Nirit explains that because of the situation she is receiving psychological help at the Fellowship's Trauma Center. "It's not a normal situation. People can't be expected to live this way,” she says. Nirit tells me that she was with a friend in Beersheva last Monday night. "I had a bad feeling and I wanted to come home. I spoke with my father but he told me to stay. It's a terrible feeling to know that everything you have has been destroyed by terror."

We next visit one of the public bomb shelters that The Fellowship has renovated and where parents can bring their children to participate in activities in a protected environment between the hours of 10 AM until 7 PM.

Bilha has brought her 4 children who are busy painting pictures. She explains that her children understand that there is a war in progress. "They just want this to end. My 6 year old daughter is always by my side. Recently this has only gotten worse. She has bad nightmares. We sleep downstairs in the inner room and pray that everything will be okay. Thank God we have this shelter where the children can feel safe and have fun."

Ashkelon

From Sderot we travel to Ashkelon where we visit a public shelter in the Youth Center where there are activities for the young children each day from 8 AM until 2 PM. Dafna Amira Biton, manager of the center, explains that many of the children live in homes where there is no safe area. “ These are children from families who cannot leave the city. Either their parents are municipal workers, or they don't have money, or they don't have family in other areas of Israel." She explains that the children are very stressed by the situation. "They talk about what's going on and understand everything."

I speak with seven and a half year old Itamar who tells me, "It's fun here. We have a safe environment. The Arabs want to take back Israel, but they can't have it because God promised it to the Jewish people."

We are joined by Rabbi Eckstein at the next shelter. He explains that this is a place where parents can feel confident that their children are safe and sound. He thanks the volunteers as well as the paid professionals. On the wall of the shelter the children have painted pictures and written slogans meant to strengthen and cheer one another:

• “Our shelter is the best looking in the world”
• “Smile, everything is for the best”
• “What fun we have here!”
• “Whoever depends on God will be surrounded by goodness”
• “God is always with you”

Before leaving, Yechiel distributes sweets to the children and the young volunteers.

Yisrael, chairman of the neighborhood committee, tells me, "We have to continue on with our lives. People try to go to work, but it's difficult. I send a prayer to all the Christians in America who have repaired our shelters. We wouldn't have any safe place if it wasn't for you. God bless you for your financial and moral support."

As we get ready to leave the city, newly elected mayor Benny Vaknin leaves the local Barzilai Hospital where he is being interviewed by TV Channel 10 in order to meet with Yechiel. He explains that 26,000 children in the city are not going to school because of the war. The city has started a system for teaching over the Internet. Unfortunately, 3,500 families in the poor southern neighborhoods where most of the rockets are falling don't have the money to buy computers and these children are falling behind in their studies.

Mayor Vaknin also makes an effort to explain the problem to those who are only exposed to the media imbalance of the foreign press. "Ten years ago in Ashkelon there was a garbage recycling program between Ashkelon and Gaza,” he says. “Working together was a reality. Hamas has caused all of the problems. They have killed more Palestinians than Israelis. They have broken the cease fire that existed with Israel. They just want to spread terrorism. The world can only blame Hamas. They have launched more than 8,000 missiles over the past 8 years. The Israeli army warns residents to vacate buildings before bombs are dropped. The Arabs specifically aim to kill civilians."

Back to Sderot

We then return to an area on the edge of Sderot overlooking Gaza. In a scene that is hard to believe, a number of locals are sitting on the overlook with binoculars in an attempt to see the “action.”

I speak with several of the people who don't want to give their names. The message they relate is that the general feeling in Sderot is one of anger and exasperation. The people have waited for the Israel to act on the continuous rocket fire for 8 years. They feel that Hamas and the other terrorist groups are finally getting what they asked for, and that the bell is tolling for them.

"The people of Sderot don't want war", they say. When I ask why they remain in the city, the uniform answer is, "What are we supposed to do, leave? If we give them Sderot, they'll want Hebron. If they take Hebron, they'll want Jerusalem. If there was something like this in New York, the Government wouldn't wait one day to react, let alone 8 years."

The people tell me stories of the days before the 'disengagement' three years ago when Israel was still in Gaza. "The people of Gaza used to come here without visas or passports and work. There was no poverty or humanitarian problem there. They built Sderot and got paid for it. Now they want to chase us out.”

In the middle of our talk we suddenly see 2 rockets being launched from Gaza and heading in our direction. We try to take cover, but there's nothing other than an electrical tower on our hill. We too soon feel that we have been divinely protected. One rocket has landed 2 blocks to our right. The second whizzes over our heads and lands 100 yards behind us in a fields just to the left of a row of houses.

Shmuel, who lives 3 houses from the Sderot border, is the last person I speak with. He is thrilled with the work of The Fellowship but less optimistic about the results of the war. "Everybody in Sderot knows Rabbi Eckstein and The Fellowship. How can anybody not know the organization that has looked out for our welfare?" Shmuel continues, "When I heard that the ground operation had started last night, I thought everyone in Gaza would run to Egypt. But they're still there and they continue to launch rockets at us. The people of Sderot are skeptical that this operation will give us peace. I hope we are wrong."