Israel-based Nigerian pastor; Kehinde Dairo has described the safety measures put in place to protect civilians from the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict as top-notch.
Dairo is a minister in Lift Your Head Ministry based in Israel. She is married to Jeremiah Dairo who is the General Overseer of the Ministry. She and her husband have been running the ministry for about 15 years now.
She told Church Times in a telephone interview on Sunday that the present conflict between Palestine and Israel is the second of such that she would witness since she got to Israel. She recalled that her first experience was in 2014.
“The crisis then was not as serious as this one. We are used to seeing Arabs and Jews have skirmishes but the present crisis is more disturbing. But even at that, there is a high sense of safety among residents.
“Some people who want to continue their work still continue at the risk of being knocked down by missiles from Gaza. But the truth is that many people are safe and secure. The Iron dome meets the missiles in the air and incapacitates them. So, it does not really get to land on buildings or people.”
Though a few Israelis have been victims of the missiles shot at Israel by their Palestinian traducers, Dairo said there is still no cause to fear.
“The safety measures here are top-notch. We get updates on what is happening. We in fact get information before a missile gets into Israel. They give us the information ahead of time and they advise us to move to a designated shelter. Every community has a shelter. So, we just move in there to be safe.”
While calling for more prayers from concerned people of the world, she said, “We had a major church service yesterday. The African community met and we took time to pray and worship the Lord. We feel safe. We feel secure. God is our security. The Israeli Defence Force is doing great with protecting the lives of everybody who lives in Israel.”
For now, many businesses have had to close down in the last one week. The airport has been shut. There seems to be no end in sight.
Israeli strikes reportedly damaged a road leading to a Gaza hospital on Sunday, while Hamas militants continued firing rockets. President Joe Biden called the Israeli and Palestinian leaders to discuss cease-fire efforts.
New York Times reports that President Biden conferred with the Israeli Prime Minister, Mr. Benjamin Netanyahu, and Mahmoud Abbas, president of the Palestinian Authority, about efforts to broker a cease-fire.
While supporting Israel’s right to defend itself from rocket attacks by Hamas militants, Mr. Biden urged Mr. Netanyahu to protect civilians and journalists.
Even before Sunday morning’s attack, Israeli airstrikes had intensified over the weekend, with an attack on a house in a refugee camp in Gaza that killed 10 members of an extended family, including women and children, and another that destroyed a high-rise that housed media outlets including The A.P. and Al Jazeera.
Israeli defense officials said the building housed military assets belonging to Hamas and they provided advance warning to civilians in the building to allow evacuation. No casualties were reported in that strike.
At least 192 Palestinians had been killed in Israeli airstrikes and shelling in Gaza, including at least 58 children, according to Palestinian health authorities, and 12 Israelis had died in Hamas rocket attacks.