The serrated smoke trails of rockets make jagged cuts through the cloudless sky over Israel and the Palestinian Territories.
And Stephen Johnson, an Alabamian who serves as a Christian worker among Palestinians, said he feels just as rough around the edges.
Just after arriving back in the West Bank on Nov. 16, he fell asleep and awoke to find that a rocket had hit not too far from the house where he was. “We are fine — a little jittery, but OK,” he said.
He’s not the only one who’s jittery — a phone call to friends who are believers in the Gaza Strip confirmed that.
“They are all OK but very frightened,” Johnson said. “They’ve been here many times before.”
Gaza and Israel have a history of conflict. Hundreds of intermittent rockets have been fired from Gaza in recent years, and in the winter of 2008–2009, Israel’s Operation Cast Lead killed more than 1,000 Palestinians and 13 Israelis.
With the current fighting, a friend of Johnson’s in Gaza told him it’s dangerous to be in the street, and there’s very little movement outside. Grocery stores are empty.
“People have bought up supplies in case the situation gets worse,” Johnson said.
And they pray that “worse” won’t mean “closer” — the Palestinian Ministry of Interior office, about 200 yards from Johnson’s friends, was hit by Israeli rockets, he said.
Since Israel launched its Operation Pillar of Defense on Nov. 14, it has bombed 1,350 “terror targets” in Gaza, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said. More than 110 Palestinians and three Israelis have been killed, according to BBC News. At least 23 of those happened on the fifth day of fighting Nov. 18, making it the deadliest so far.
U.S. President Barack Obama said he supported Israel’s right to defend itself and called for Gaza to stop firing on Israel and work toward peace.
“There’s no country on earth that would tolerate missiles raining down on its citizens from outside its borders,” Obama said at a press conference in Thailand during a Southeast Asian tour, according to NBC.
By the evening of Nov. 13, Israel’s Iron Dome shield had intercepted 245 rockets fired from Gaza in a three-day period, according to the Israeli army. About 1,000 rockets have been fired since the beginning of the conflict and nearly 100 in the days that preceded the conflict. Tel Aviv has repeatedly been the target.
So far the battle has been largely restricted to rocket fire exchange. News outlets reported the strong possibility that it could escalate into a ground offensive. At press time Nov. 20, Egypt said Israel had put those plans on hold to engage in cease-fire talks, but despite those claims, Israeli airstrikes had been stepped up overnight.
Where Ben Martin is, people aren’t as worried about the rockets as they are about the possibility of others getting involved with force, such as Egypt or Hezbollah, the Shia resistance group based in Lebanon. Egypt’s president stated early in the conflict that it would not leave Gaza on its own, according to BBC.
“The main concern is the secondary threat,” said Martin, an Alabamian who serves as a Christian worker among Jews. “In these days, what do we do? We’re told to be sober-minded so that we may be able to pray.”
Pray for the Jews in Israel and for people under fire in both Israel and Gaza, he said. “We don’t just sit with our hands folded — we look for opportunities.”
One believer in Israel whom Martin knows has already had the chance to share with a family when he was taking cover with them as rockets approached.
“What we need is people who will pray for the believers in Israel and for the believers in Gaza to be bold to share in the midst of hard times,” Martin said.
He, Johnson and others in the region say there is a ready harvest among the Middle Eastern peoples.
“Pray for safety but also that they would have opportunities to share the hope that they have,” Johnson said.
He and Martin challenged Christians to “pray the news.”
“As you watch the news, write down the names and places, then turn the TV off and pray the news,” he said. “It’s not a political statement or a stand, but asking the God of heaven to invoke His will in the situation and to bring true and lasting peace. With that, He is well pleased.”
EDITOR’S NOTE — Names have been changed for security reasons.
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