SWORDS OF IRON WAR – NOVEMBER

WEDNESDAY - Day 33 of the war                 08.11.2023

Clear streets

We have enough cooked food for the next week in the freezer. We also have enough of everything else a person can use. So when Willie said he was going out for his daily walk to see downtown Nahariya, I decided to walk with him and visit our beach. Most of the drugs from two days ago seemed to have left my body by now, and my head was clearer.

The streets were clear as well.

As we walked, we heard the artileries at the border. Some were earlier than usual this morning, others sounded by the late afternoon.

We were talking about the war and the people who were trying to leave Gaza while Hamas forced them to stay. I was wondering if they identified all the body parts that were left in the horrifying scene. “Did you know they had to bring in Forensic Archaeologists too?” no, I've never heard of such a thing!

I became cold, started shivering and felt as if swords went through my body. Thirty-Three Days to the Swords of Iron Holocaust, and it only now woke me to the horrific war we are living in each day. I managed to walk quietly and peacefully until now; I realized that my city is very well protected and we are going about our daily lives, and I knew that God is with us. But, only at this point, I saw in my mind the mass murder that took place. The pictures of a baby's burned head and the mutilated bodies lying around did not penetrate my soul as these two words did. Forensic Archaeologists! Now the picture of the Negev desert covered with dead body parts sprang inside my head.

Do you realize what a horror this is?

A brown desert field covered with body parts of children that no one knows their identity. A field of atrocities of loved ones who went to a music festival and now cannot be identified. The medical teams that swarmed the area could not identify all the pieces – human parts – they needed Forensic Archaeologists!

The civilians from Gaza were freed by the IDF today from the hold of Hamas and thousands of them cross through the South gates to Egypt. Praise God.

Our abducted 9 months to 90 years old 238+ Israeli civilians are still captive in Gaza. I cannot even write this sentence correctly. We don't know if any are alive! The UN which is so quick on demanding a stop to the attack on Hamas, did not put out its energy to demand that the Red Cross visit the stolen and check their condition. 33 days and no one knows how they are doing.

But God.

Miraculous happenings already told by soldiers who came home for a day of rest and hugs from family. Lives were saved by angels who directed them to stay away from houses full of traps, explosives and dangerous zones.

Thank You, God, for sending your angels to save our young men and women in the army. The shocks they already suffered will be enough to deal with in the aftermath of this war.

Please, God, bring our people home alive, healthy and whole. Amen.