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 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 and 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. In the process, the IDF will attempt to neutralise the military 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.
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
