Protect Israelis under relentless rocket attack
Published on: 12.5.2023
By: David Parsons, ICEJ Vice President & Senior Spokesman

Israel has weathered several days of intense rocket barrages launched by Palestinian Islamic Jihad in Gaza, while dealing serious blows to the radical terror militia. More than 800 rockets and mortars have rained down on southern Israel over the past three days, with one civilian killed by a direct hit on his home and several others injured. Meanwhile, the IDF has used precision strikes to take out five senior commanders of the PIJ along with numerous rocket squads and launchers.
The escalation came after the Islamic militia fired over 100 rockets into Israel last week right when children were heading home in the afternoon from school. The IDF waited several days before finally answering on Tuesday night with pinpoint air strikes which successfully targeted three of PIJ’s top commanders in Gaza.

Israelis then braced for the terror militia’s response, while also worrying if the larger terror militia Hamas, and even Hizbullah in Lebanon, would join the fray. So far only PIJ has engaged in battle, stopping first to bury the three slain commanders before firing off an initial rocket volley on Wednesday afternoon. They have since lobbed hundreds of projectiles into Israel’s populated coastal region as far north as Tel Aviv.

Nonetheless, Israel has been able to quickly gain the upper hand, with Iron Dome batteries intercepting most of the rockets and the IAF eliminating two more top PIJ commanders and a number of their rocket squads. Still, several million Israeli civilians are stuck in their safe rooms hoping for a rumored ceasefire to take hold.

Yoav Limor, a veteran Israeli military reporter, told an ICEJ delegation on Thursday that a ceasefire could possibly be reached soon with Egyptian mediation. But he cautioned that any resulting quiet will likely be short-lived, as Hamas is already threatening to fire its own rockets next week to pressure Israel into canceling the annual flag march into the walled Old City on Jerusalem Day.
“In these recurring rocket wars, the Palestinians are always trying to kill as many Israeli civilians as they can,” said Limor. “Meanwhile, the IDF aims to take away as many assets of the enemy as it can, while buying as long a period of quiet as possible for Israeli civilians to go back to their normal lives until the next round of fighting erupts.”

As the rockets began to fly on Wednesday, the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem was still able to deliver a mobile bomb shelter to a youth center in the Hof Ashkelon region that afternoon. The shelter is the first of two being donated to the Youth Leadership Training Center in Bat Hadar, just north of Gaza. These particular shelters were funded by the ICEJ’s German and Canadian branches.

Over recent years, the ICEJ has donated more than 190 mobile bomb shelters to Israeli communities vulnerable to rocket attacks along the Gaza and Lebanon borders. Over 150 of these shelters have been placed in Israeli towns and villages near the Gaza border who have borne the brunt of the repeated rocket attacks. They have only 15 seconds to find safety, and the Iron Dome system does not protect them from shorter-range rockets.

The portable bomb shelters we have provided so far are saving lives, but more are urgently needed. Hopefully, a ceasefire will be declared soon, but we also know Hamas is already preparing for what could be an even bigger escalation next week.

So, please consider donating towards more mobile bomb shelters to protect Israeli communities under intense rocket fire. You can do so by contributing to our Israel in Crisis fund.

Your donations will be used to rush more shelters to the most vulnerable communities along the Gaza border. The ICEJ also is receiving requests to help take Israeli youths and the elderly away from the front lines of this conflict and give them a respite in safer parts of the country. In addition, we are looking to assist those who have been injured or suffered damage to their homes. And there is always a need to help support resilience centers and provide trauma counseling to those impacted mentally and emotionally by the raging battle.

Send your gift today to help comfort and protect Israelis under relentless rocket attack.
Donate at: give.icej.org/crisis

在無情的火箭彈襲擊中保護以色列人

發表於：12.5.2023
作者：大衛柏森斯，ICEJ 副總裁兼高級發言人

以色列經歷了幾天巴勒斯坦伊斯蘭聖戰組織在加沙發射的猛烈火箭彈襲擊，同時對激進的恐怖民兵組織造成了沉重打擊。 過去三天，超過 800 枚火箭彈和迫擊砲彈如雨點般落在以色列南部，一名平民的住所被直接擊中身亡，另有數人受傷。 與此同時，以色列國防軍使用精確打擊消滅PIJ（傑哈西）的五名高級指揮官以及眾多火箭隊和發射器。
上週，當孩子們下午放學回家時，伊斯蘭民兵向以色列發射了100多枚火箭，事態升級。 以色列國防軍等了好幾天才終於在周二晚上以精確的空襲作為回應，成功地瞄準了 PIJ 在加沙的三名高級指揮官。

以色列人隨後為恐怖民兵的反應做好準備，同時也擔心更大的恐怖民兵哈馬斯，甚至黎巴嫩的真主黨是否會加入戰鬥。 到目前為止，只有 PIJ 參與了戰鬥，首先停下來埋葬三名被殺的指揮官，然後在周三下午發射了最初的火箭炮。從那以後，他們向以色列人口稠密的沿海地區投擲了數百枚火箭炮，北至特拉維夫。

儘管如此，以色列還是迅速佔據了上風，鐵穹砲台攔截了大部分火箭炮，以色列空軍又消滅了兩名 PIJ 高級指揮官和他們的一些火箭發射隊。儘管如此，仍有數百萬以色列平民被困在他們的安全房間裡，希望傳聞中的停火得以落實。
以色列資深軍事記者 Yoav Limor 週四對 ICEJ 代表團表示，在埃及的調解下，停火可能很快就會達成。但他警告說，由此產生的任何平靜都可能是短暫的，因為哈馬斯已經威脅要在下星期發射自己的火箭炮，以迫使以色列取消一年一度的耶路撒冷日國旗遊行進入有圍牆的舊城。

“在這些反復出現的火箭炮戰爭中，巴勒斯坦人總是試圖盡可能多地殺死以色列平民，”利莫爾說。 “與此同時，以色列國防軍的目標是盡可能多地奪走敵人的資產，同時為以色列平民爭取盡可能長的安靜時間，讓他們恢復正常生活，直到下一輪戰鬥爆發。”

當火箭炮在星期三開始飛行時，耶路撒冷國際基督徒大使館仍然能夠在當天下午向霍夫阿什克倫地區的一個青年中心運送一個移動防空洞。 該避難所是捐贈給位於加沙北部 Bat Hadar 的青年領袖培訓中心的兩個避難所中的第一個。這些特殊的庇護所由 ICEJ 的德國和加拿大分支機構資助。

近年來，ICEJ向加沙和黎巴嫩邊境易受火箭彈襲擊的以色列社區捐贈了 190 多個移動防空洞。 這些避難所中有 150 多個被安置在加沙邊界附近的以色列城鎮和村莊，這些城鎮和村莊首當其沖地遭受反復的火箭彈炮襲擊。 他們只有15秒的時間找到安全地帶，而且鐵穹系統無法保護他們免受短程火箭炮的攻擊。

迄今為止，我們提供的便攜式防空洞正在挽救生命，但迫切需要更多。希望很快就會宣布停火，但我們也知道哈馬斯已經在為下周可能出現的更大規模升級做準備。

因此，請考慮為更多的移動防空洞捐款，以在猛烈的火箭彈襲擊下保護以色列社區。您可以通過向我們的以色列危機基金捐款來做到這一點。

您的捐款將用於為加沙邊境沿線最脆弱的社區提供更多庇護所。 ICEJ 也收到了幫助以色列青年和老年人離開衝突前線的請求，讓他們在該國更安全的地區得到喘息的機會。 此外，我們正在尋求幫助那些受傷或房屋受損的人。 始終需要幫助支持復原力中心，並為那些在激烈的戰鬥中在精神和情感上受到影響的人提供創傷諮詢。
今天就送出您的禮物，以幫助安慰和保護遭受無情火箭彈襲擊的以色列人。