“Thus says the LORD of hosts (the armies): They may build, but I will throw down; They shall be called the Territory of wickedness, and the people against whom the LORD will have indignation forever: Your eyes shall see, And you shall say, The LORD is magnified beyond the border of Israel” (Mal. 1:4b-5 NKJV).

Dear Prayer Warriors for Israel:

Greetings from Jerusalem, the “city of peace,” well not quite. I was starting to write this update when my thoughts were suddenly interrupted by the wails of sirens. My phone app then went off. Missiles incoming! Jerusalem was under attack again. Marylois and I plus Leslie and Barbara who were in the House rushed into our “safe room” (a room on the first floor with steel shutters) to take shelter, to pray and to “wait it out.” Not long afterwards we heard four booms. Interceptions by Iron Dome, I think. My App Map showed that there were 14 missiles shot in our direction. The impact sites were mostly outside Jerusalem in the hills nearby (Abu-Ghosh, Betar Illit, and the Bethlehem area but also close enough to hit Mt. Herzl (which we can see from the House) and Eben Sapir (Near Hadassah hospital). This Middle East War is far from over.

The “trouble” with Hamas’ missiles is that they are not guided. They don’t have an on board GPS. Therefore, just a few seconds more or less of fuel burning, a damaged fin, or a prevailing wind can send this rocket far away from its intended target, or circle back and hit inside the Strip. And Jerusalem is surrounded by Muslim villages about 1/4 of the city is Arab. Other thoughts you might consider about shooting a missile towards Jerusalem, a city of almost a million people. These ‘unguided projectiles” could hit and destroy the Dome of the Rock, Islam’s third holy site, or explode near one of Christianity’s holy sites. The warhead on these rockets is anywhere from 50-145 kilos (125-362 bs), enough to do some significant damage. But then, Hamas doesn’t care. These rocket attacks are all about creating fear and using them for publicity. A nine-year-old Israeli girl died in Tel Aviv last week, after suffering from a panic attack.

Gaza City

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) launched its Ground Operation early Saturday morning, sending in tanks and armored vehicles to attack, destroy Hamas’ strongholds. At this point, they have successfully cut Gaza City off from the rest of the Strip. Hamas has forbidden the inhabitants to leave and has shot some of the citizens that tried. Israel has dropped leaflets urging these citizens to either surrender or move south.

President Biden has made some eight telephone calls to Prime Minister Netanyahu urging him to restrain from harming the Gazan citizens. But where do you draw the line? Hamas employs whosoever they can to fight the IDF, children and women. Also Hamas irregulars do not necessarily dress in a uniform but wear civilian clothes or earlier this month they dressed in IDF uniforms.

Last Friday, the IDF cut all cellular phones and internet services in the Gaza Strip. In a phone call today, President Biden demanded they be restored. Earlier Edmund Musk, stated that he would provide his Star-link satellite communications to the Gazans. Israel restored these services today, as much as possible. Yet it is hard to fight a war and win, when your strategies are being managed by people far away who favor your enemy. One of the rules in warfare is to cut off your enemy’s communications. Unfortunately, Israel can not do that now.

Israel also yielding to President Biden’s earlier request has permitted truckloads of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip. Today they opened a second water line into the Strip, which provides at no cost some 28.5 million liters of water (7 million gallons) to the residents.

UNRWA (United Nations Refugee Works Agency)

The UN provides a wide range of assistance to the Gazans, primarily through UNRWA, which provides schooling, food, shelter, hospitals. The trouble is that much of UNRWA is managed by Hamas agents. Hamas takes a “cut” on every contribution, and assistance that flows through UNRWA. This week, it was reported that thousands of Gaza’s raided and plundered a number of UNRWA warehouses, stealing food, medicine and other supplies which were kept there. One has to wonder, why was not this humanitarian assistance distributed earlier? Or was it a publicity stunt by Hamas? For more information on UNRWA ‘s corruption go to: Israel behind the news.com

One Hostage is free  

The latest report from the IDF is that in a successful ground operation they were able to rescue one hostage IDF Corporal Ori Magidish, after she was kidnapped over three weeks ago. Ori’s uncle in a prayer of thanksgiving said: “Thank you to the Creator of the world, thank you to the people of Israel, thank you to the soldiers” (israelnationalnews.com) We rejoice that she has been freed, but ask for more prayer that the other 238 prisoners that Hamas holds, including a nine month old baby, mothers with children, orphans (parents murdered), soldiers and many foreign workers be freed. The latest count includes 18 Thai Nationals, 13 Americans, 9 French, 5 citizens from the U.K. and 8 Russians. There are many more from some 25 nations. Pray for more successful rescue operations, and a breakthrough in hostage negotiations.

There are also some 600 Palestinians with U.S. citizenship, and another 200 U.K. dual citizens that want to be able to return Stateside or to the U.K. They also desire to leave with their extended families. Egypt won’t process them, and neither will Jordan, nor Israel.

The Gaza Strip does have an airport which is not functional: the Yassar Arafat International Airport. The runway is 10,000 feet but severely damaged (Google it). Perhaps, the U.S. could stage a rescue there, but somehow avoid the mass exodus and mess, they encountered in evacuating Kabul, Afghanistan. I seriously doubt it. Hamas would fire RPG’s on any aircraft landing. If such a rescue happens, there could be hundreds of thousands of refugees descending on to the planes, all looking for a ride home to the U.S. or U.K.

Our God is mighty!

Pray that all of Israel would do as David did, after he and all his men, discovered that their families had been kidnapped by the Amalekites. (I Sam. 30) He encouraged himself in the LORD and with his men, defeated the Amalekites and rescued everyone who was abducted. We serve a mighty God. Let Israel now say: “Our help is in the name of the LORD” and “He is our defense.” Please read and declare all of Psalm 124 And Ps 94:22!

Please pray into the scriptures I have posted at the top of this report. That Israel is delivered from the violent man (Ish hamas) Ps. 18:48. And declare that all of Israel’s eyes shall see and say that “The Territory of Wickedness is thrown down and that the LORD is magnified beyond the border of Israel” (Mal. 1:4b-5).

Let the LORD be magnified beyond the borders of Israel!

Gene and Marylois Little

House of Peace, Jerusalem