It has been two years since Black October.
Time will tell how the peace deal pans out, but I think the vast majority of us both in Israel and in Gaza will be very glad to see the end of this war.
GOD CARES FOR THOSE SUFFERING IN ISRAEL AND IN GAZA
Over 3,000 Hamas terrorists broke into Israel on October 7, 2023, slaughtering 1211 people, taking 251 captive, raping many others, and leaving almost 5000 seriously injured and many more traumatized for life. Bombs rained down on Israel from every side, and some 250,000 Israelis have been forced to flee their homes.
To date, 148 hostages have mercifully been returned alive to Israel, eight of whom were rescued by the IDF, but 48 remain in the Hamas terror tunnels two years on. Only 20 are thought to he left alive. We have been horrified by the footage of the skeletal hostages — starved, tortured, and on the brink of death. We continue to pray earnestly for their return.
Meanwhile, Gaza has been turned upside down. Life has become a living hell for ordinary people there, used as human shields by Hamas day after day in their determined strategy to demonize Israel in the eyes of the world. Civilians are left exposed to danger with no bomb shelters or protection, many either killed along with the terrorists, or terribly wounded with no access to medical care. Everyone else is constantly being moved out of conflict zones from one place to the next, taking their few belongings that they can carry with them, hoping that one day it will come to an end.
THE BOMBING NO-ONE TALKS ABOUT
While the news focuses on the destruction in Gaza as the IDF dismantles the tunnel network and infrastructure embedded in every inch of the Gaza Strip, Israel has also been pummeled with rockets from multiple fronts: Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Houthis in Yemen, the IRGC in Iran, and occasionally Iraq and Syria have joined in the pile-on for good measure. Israelis have been in and out of bomb shelters for two years, and it’s still going on.
A quarter of a million Israeli citizens were displaced over the last two years, evacuated after their homes became unlivable or too dangerous to stay in. Now some are moving back, and starting to put the pieces of their lives back together. Many buildings have suffered terrible damage, and a lot of families will never be able to return home.
As well as almost 1000 civilian casualties, more than 1000 soldiers have fallen in battle since October 7, 2023, and many more have been wounded, some sustaining life-changing injuries.
Oren1, a tank commander that approached ONE FOR ISRAEL for help, was one of the injured. “My crew and I were caught in an ambush” Oren explains. “We were shot by an RPG on and a few charges that were set in advance.” He said they got away comparatively lightly, compared to many others who encountered the mines and booby traps waiting for them.
“I was the only one injured in the whole crew. My injury was mostly in my upper body, a few breakages in my shoulder which was dislocated, and my collar bone. And we returned to the fight immediately. We took control of the situation pretty much pretty fast, and I managed to go to a hospital only later that day, like hours later.”
On the scene, one of his crew helped him with his dislocated shoulder, putting it back in place until he could get proper treatment. Somehow he soldiered on with his broken collarbone. “It’s been intense,” he admits, adding, “I think the stats regarding injured and killed soldiers suggest that we were pretty lucky. A lot of people… are no longer with us or had life-changing injuries.”
EMPTY CHAIRS AT THE HOLIDAY TABLE
Oren has lost six friends in battle since that Black October two years ago, and knows many more who have been injured like him and are in rehabilitation.
Many Jewish families face a holiday season with an empty chair at the table — whether it’s a lost loved one killed on Black October or during the war, whether they are still fighting in Gaza, or held captive in the tunnels, too many people are missing from their places, leaving a gaping hole back at home.
Many more may be physically present, but are injured and traumatized, and will never be the same again.
“It’s more stable now,” Oren says of his injury. “It still disrupts my daily life. It’s still present. And will always be scarring and will always be like the shoulder will always be popped out. But I’m grateful for what I have and that I was really lucky. It could be worse.”
Oren says he barely saw the terrorists who attacked him. They came up to fire, and disappeared immediately back into the tunnels. “It’s like fighting a ghost,” he said. However, when his unit was charged with evacuating civilians to safety, he was able to see the faces of ordinary Gazan people. Other soldiers with different roles have more face to face contact with people there, but in a tank it’s different.
“When you’re looking at civilians through a tank, you can see the fear. It’s not a pleasant view. It’s a really big machine with a lot of guns and big turrets and it makes a lot of noise,” he explains. “It’s supposed to be scary. It’s war… But I’ve heard a lot of stories from the people like paratroopers, touching stories, developing interactions with civilians, babies, with older people. The soldiers are first of all humans.”
Israel’s soldiers have been fighting for two years now, and they are exhausted. Oren says that sometimes it’s hard to see a light at the end of the tunnel.
“The people were like at the edge, running on fumes,” he says, listing the pressures they feel from every side: “from the political side, from the civilian side, the hostages situation. It’s a lot.”
The Soldiers Ministry of ONE FOR ISRAEL serves the hundreds of young Messianic Jewish believers in the IDF, supporting them in every way we can as they seek to be salt and light to all around them — both friends and enemies.
Sadly, several believing families have lost loved ones serving in this terrible war. There are households all over Israel with empty chairs, and Messianic believers have not been exempt from sorrow and loss.
ONE FOR ISRAEL has also been able to bless bereaved families, evacuees, and a number of army units, providing much-appreciated equipment and simple items that make life more bearable.
GRAPPLING WITH GLOBAL HATRED AND GODLY HOPE
The IDF has seen more people that believe in God2 serving than usual since that black day on October 7, 2023 and though not a believer himself, Oren has found their faith inspiring. “It’s like a boost of hope,” he says, giving something to expect and look forward to. Though he and many others like him began the war as an atheist, he found himself thinking on a more spiritual level during the war. “In my toughest times during the injury, during the incident, I believed in some spiritual force out there. You can’t say in words, but I believe that each one of the soldiers in combat, they are following something — following something bigger than us.”
Meanwhile, many in Gaza are finding the only hope they have is in God, and hearts are more open than ever before to the gospel.
ONE FOR ISRAEL is helping new believers in Gaza as they offer the hope of the Gospel to those around them, and simultaneously serves soldiers like Oren, providing them with practical help and equipment as they spend long periods on duty in the heat and the dust, and also with support and love. Oren describes the faith in God he sees in others as a torch, shining the way ahead, and giving encouragement to carry on. “I saw lots of beautiful things in religion in the last two years, which was not really part of my daily life,” he says.
We asked Oren, “What would you like the world to know, that you feel that they don’t understand?”
His reply helps give a sense of the feeling on the ground here in Israel: “I think that the situation is not black and white,” he replied thoughtfully.
“There are no winners and losers. In war everybody loses.”
He assures us that Israel has done its best to maintain humanity throughout combat, which is extremely difficult sometimes. “It’s a really, really, really complicated story. I think,” he says, but asked that people in the nations would understand that Israel is fighting for our right to survive, explaining that it’s not a given.
“I’m talking about the privilege to live in peace, to enjoy our families, enjoy our lives… we are not looking to fight or trigger anyone, and just to live,” he explains. “It’s not always possible. I don’t think people from the outside can even imagine that.”
PLEASE PRAY:
- Pray for all those grieving, with empty chairs at their tables
- Pray for the injured and traumatized – there are so many
- Pray for the hostages and their safe return
- Pray for the people of Gaza, for all those in desperate need, also evacuated from their homes
- Pray for those in both Israel and Gaza to turn to God in this terrible time
- Pray for truth and justice to prevail
- Pray for evil to be curtailed, and God’s gracious hand on world leaders as the end of the war is negotiated.
Source: One for Israel
