Shalom all,

This will be short.

At 2 minutes before 3:00 p.m., Israel time, after 5 hours of a halt in the fighting at the request of the U.N. for “humanitarian reasons”, Hamas immediately thereafter sent a barrage of missiles into Israeli residential communities. The IDF responded and it’s been like that all day.

After 13 terrorists were spotted coming out of a tunnel and trying to infiltrate into a kibbutz to slaughter the residents and return to their hole like rats, the IDF blew up the tunnel with the terrorists in it. Their attempt to kill civilians failed. God did another miracle today!

But, that incident, being yet another in a series of attempts at infiltration into Israel to kill as many civilians as possible, caused the Security Cabinet to realise that ground action is necessary in order to find the tunnels and get rid of them. Tunnels were dug to smuggle weapons into Gaza. But, these particular tunnels were designed to provide access for terrorists from Gaza into areas close to residential communities in the south of Israel. Gaza is a maze of tunnels, some along the border with Egypt and some along Gaza’s eastern and northern borders near cities, towns, kibbutzim and settlements. In the present ground action, the IDF will attempt not only to remove destroy the tunnels, but in the process, to neutralise the military infrastructure and capability of Hamas. Israel had earlier demanded that a cease fire, if it would occur, would require “demilitarising” Gaza. That was not an option for Hamas and its affiliate terrorist organisations, who continued to send waves of missiles into the south of Israel and the wider Gush Dan region (Tel Aviv and locales surrounding it). 

Ground troops were just sent into Gaza. Many hoped that such action would not be required, but realistically knew that it was necessary to restore quiet to Israeli communities. Hamas was hoping that it would happen, so that the death toll would increase, resulting in world pressure being placed upon Israel. The call-up of another 18,000 reservists has been authorised.

As the IDF entered Gaza, sirens sounded in the northern Golan Heights. All three of our children are at a youth conference in the area of the Golan. Our two older children are counsellors at the conference, while the youngest is attending with dozens of friends.

Your prayers are solicited for wisdom, strength and protection for those who are putting heir lives in harm’s way to protect us. As of this writing, at least 15 of our soldiers have been wounded (the extent of their injuries have not yet been reported). Please also pray for all those attending the youth conference in the north.

A fuller report will follow tomorrow.

With thanks and blessings,

Marvin