Israelis in the western Negev have had to completely change their lifestyles in recent years. Very few sleep in upstairs bedrooms anymore. They leave their TV and radio sets turned down low and their car windows open to better hear the 'Code Red' siren warning of incoming Kassam rockets. They have a mere 15 seconds to find shelter.

"We go to the downstairs toilets," Yigal Levi, an Israeli social worker with four children, told ICEJ News on Sunday. "The most difficult thing is in the night when you see the red rockets. It's very difficult in 15 seconds to wake up all the kids and go downstairs to a cramped bathroom."

"If Israel thought that in 2005 terrorism would stop by leaving the Gaza Strip, well unfortunately we’ve experienced exactly the opposite… In fact, four times the number of rockets have landed than before disengagement," explained Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld.

In response, the ICEJ has committed to helping these embattled Israeli communities cope with daily rocket and mortar fire from nearby Gaza, by providing public bomb shelters through Operation Lifeshield. On January 13, our staff visited the Sderot area to dedicate six new reinforced bus stop shelters. It was a very moving day.

The Operation Lifeshield bus stop shelters are certified by the IDF Home Front Command to withstand a direct Kassam hit and protect up to 15 people at a time. Three of the six shelters were donated by the ICEJ, with particular support from our national branches in Finland, Germany, Norway and the USA.

Operation Lifeshield first started placing portable bomb shelters in Sderot last May, when few public shelters were yet available. Locals then began demanding that the government provide more shelters. Driving around Sderot now, one can see many different types – some just bare concrete slabs – scattered along the streets.

But this has allowed the coalition of Christian and Jewish donors behind Lifeshield to now start placing shelters at smaller communities in the surrounding Sha'ar Hanegev region. They were very thankful, since they have been feeling ignored. They have suffered just as many Kassam attacks, but the larger town of Sderot gets all the attention, said Eli Segal, general manager of the Sha'ar Hanegev regional council.

"For us, this is a question of 'to be or not to be'," said Segal. "We are civilians trying to live ordinary lives in an impossible situation, with no end in sight. We are very grateful to our Christian friends for all their support. Let us hope for better times."

"If we leave this area, it will get worse. They want to scare us away, but we're not going anywhere," added Shimon Kenen, the council's treasurer.

"We can't give the Israelis peace, but we can help give them peace of mind," said Earl Cox of Israel Always, who has been leading a fundraising drive for Operation Lifeshield among American Christians.

At the Keren Or Youth Center, the ICEJ-AID department also presented a $25,000 donation for an expansion of the facility that will include a safe room for the dozens of troubled teenagers who attend the center and get their lives back on course.

When the rockets first started falling several years ago, the wife of Yigal Levi, the center's founder, urged him to move the family elsewhere. "Woman, this is our home, and we're going to stay," he responded.

"I don’t kid you. It’s very difficult! But we live in Sderot, we build in Sderot, we educate our kids here, and we give our kids and our youth the opportunity to grow up," he explained to us.

Some of the center's youth confided to our group they actually want to leave, but their parents cannot find buyers for their homes now. Our visit and the shelters we are providing have encouraged them to stay, they said.

"The government promised us that they would protect us, but they haven't. I'm grateful to the Christians and others who have helped us," said 16-year-old Ayelet.



Video links to ICEJ and Operation Lifeshield in the news:


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