Dear all,
Sorry for not sending an update yesterday, but it was just an “ordinary” horrific day and I was just too tired to write.
After all the missile barrages to the center of the country, my daughter came to take her children home. Like, if they aren’t safe here 15 km from Tel Aviv, then they might as well be at home with their parents. We had one period yesterday afternoon when there were three sirens within 40 minutes.
Today there was a “humanitarian” ceasefire of 5 hours so that the Gazans could stock up on food. The minute it ended at 3pm there were non-stop barrages to all parts of the country. It was terrible. My granddaughter came back from camp and we picked her up in Tel Aviv and drove her to the Northern Negev so that her dad would meet us half way and take her home. After we dropped her off, while driving back home, there was an air raid siren while we waited at a red light at an intersection. The driver next to me hooted his horn to warn me to get out, and all the cars pulled over to the side of the road. We quickly jumped out, lied down on the road next to our cars and covered our heads. There must have been eight or nine loud booms. When it was over we stood up and looked at the sky. It was like the 4th of July, you could see the trails of the missiles and where they were detonated by the Iron Dome defenses.
We then got back in the car and drove to the supermarket to shop for Shabbat. Life goes on. So weird, so surreal.
Just before the ceasefire, a tunnel built by Hamas that cost millions of US$ and over a year to build opened a few meters within Israel’s borders and 13 heavily armed terrorists ran out to kill as many civilians as possible. A young army soldier, girl, saw them and notified her superiors. The terrorists were fired upon, whereby they jumped back inside the tunnel. The air force bombed the tunnel and they believe 7-8 terrorists were killed. The Israeli government knows that there are `10’s of these tunnels and it is almost impossible to find them. They are kilometers long and built with reinforced concrete. All are ready to break open and send terrorists. The government now wants to enter Gaza and blow them up.
An hour later, all the roads in the South were closed to traffic (exactly where my daughter lives). All the residents were told to go home and stay in their safe rooms. It was believed that there was another tunnel attack. 30 minutes later the all clear was given. Thank G-D it was a false alarm.
It is now 10:30pm and Rachel is cooking and I’m reporting. We have had four air raid sirens since we came home. We no longer get worried, just go to our safe room and wait for the booms to stop.
Newsflash: TV just notified that Northern Gaza has been blacked out and it appears that the army has entered into Gaza. I pray the soldiers will return safely. The commentator said that no one knows how long the army will be inside, could be weeks.
Rachel wants me to say Tehillim now, three psalms which are said during times of war. Like I said……surreal.
