0 officials tell nation to prepare for 7 weeks of war

BREAKING: Israeli officials tell nation to prepare for 7 weeks of war

Map showing where the rockets and missiles have been hitting in the first 3 days of this war with Hamas. (Haaretz)

I’m in a hotel watching wall-to-wall coverage of the escalating violence here. We’re now getting breaking news. Israeli PM Netanyahu and his Security Cabinet have just concluded their classified meeting, which has lasted for hours. Only a few details have been released concerning their conclusions. But the main two are ominous:

* Israel’s Home Front Command has been ordered to tell the nation to prepare for 7 weeks of war.

* 75,000 IDF reserve soldiers are definitely being called up for action — up from 30,000 on Thursday, and 16,000 on Wednesday.

“Home Front Command asks local authorities to prepare for seven-week fighting period,” reports Ynet News. “In discussions held between Home Front Command Chief Major-General Eyal Eisenberg, regional commanders and heads of local authorities in the center and in the south, authorities have been instructed to prepare for a seven-week period of combat as part of Operation Pillar of Defense and to prepare emergency supplies, accordingly. Some supplies were prepared in advance. The Home Front Command estimates that terror organizations in the Gaza Strip are still capable of launching long-range rockets, even further than a 75-kilometer range. The Home Front Command sharpened instructions for the Tel Aviv metropolitan area and southern residents and, accordingly, communities located in a range of between 40-75 kilometers from the Gaza Strip must enter nearby, protected spaces the moment blasts or sirens are heard. If there is no protected space in the vicinity, residents should enter the nearest structure or stairwell. In light of the long-range rockets fired over the past few days, these instructions apply to all communities within a 75-kilometer range and not only in the Tel Aviv metropolitan area.”

I’ve been consulting with The Joshua Fund staff today. At the moment, we’re blocked from providing any humanitarian relief to those in the thick of the rocket fire because all roads in the region are closed to civilian traffic. But we believe specific opportunities will open soon. We’re closely monitoring the situation and making preparations to move the moment the Lord gives us the green light. Please pray for us to have wisdom. If you would like to make a tax-deductible donation to The Joshua Fund, please go to www.joshuafund.net. Thank you so much for faithfully standing with us as we seek to bless Israel and her neighbors — Jews and Arabs — in the name of Jesus, especially in this time of crisis.

“Israeli citizens, like any other people, deserve peace and quiet, so they can go about living their lives,” Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon told CNN on Friday. “If we will see in the next 24, 36 hours more rockets launched at us, I think that would be the trigger” for a ground operation, he said.

Please pray for Netanyahu and his Security Cabinet that they would be like the “men of Issachar, who understood the times and knew what Israel should do.” (I Chronicles 12:32) Please pray for the Palestinian Chairman Mahmoud Abbas and his advisors to know what to do to stop this violence, as well. And continue to pray for the millions of innocent civilians caught in the crossfire.