Watch this moving account of our rescuers and their visit to Ashkelon and Sderot during this latest war with Gaza
Our rescuers are just ordinary people….but in these times they are extraordinary.
There are rockets being fired on Israel….there is little warning. Sometime people can make it into the shelter, sometimes not. It is not normal…it is war. Make no mistake. This is not a “situation.”
Mommies and Daddies, children and teens. They are all helpless against the Gaza rockets that fire over and over, in a barrage, hundreds throughout the day. Throughout the night.
And not just in the South. Now as far north as Haifa. In Tel Aviv. In Ramat Gan. In Givat Shmuel. The rockets fall on the roads, on apartment buildings, on schools, on homes. Babies in hospitals have been removed from their tiny cribs, and held in the shelters by nurses and aides.
Our rescuers do what they can to re-inforce the already extended rescue services. Ambulances go round and round the different parts of town, looking for victims, helping where they can. So many people are scared. So many people are alone. They don’t all have direct injuries from the rockets. Some hyperventilate. Some have panic attacks. These are scary times and for many, the first time in a bomb shelter.
In general, bomb shelters are not taken care of…they are dark, dusty, dirty. This is not a place you want to spend any time. It is certainly not a place you want to sleep. But thousands of families are doing just that…to survive.
Our rescuers bring toys and snacks to the children and families in the shelters in Sderot, where children stay “locked up” in the shelters for days. Their parents can receive mental health counseling at these same shelters, labeled “community centers.” These have oxygen machines, to keep the air flowing. It is a shame…such beautiful sunny skies and nobody can enjoy them.
Our medics travel up the road to the soldiers on patrol….one group lost their colleage in an attack and used up much of their medical equipment. We helped replenish them, while telling stories, too. Easing their tension a bit.
Every new face, the new energy, helps these soldiers so much. They have been down on the border guarding for weeks. This is not easy.
