Israel came under attack on Monday evening, when an unprecedented 200 or more ballistic missiles were fired from Iran. At 7.30pm local time, Israeli mobile phones buzzed at once signalling “high alert”, with sirens sounding across the country, including in the cities of Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, urging people to head for the bomb shelters at least six minutes earlier than the 90 seconds normally allowed. As Israel was preparing to celebrate the upcoming holiday of Rosh HaShana, the Jewish New Year, it came under Iranian attack for the second time in just under six months. Many of the missiles were intercepted by Israel’s air defences, while some fell in Tel Aviv, near the Dead Sea, in the south and in the Sharon region. There have been no reports of casualties from the Israeli authorities. About an hour after the attack began, the alert was lifted and Israelis were given the all-clear to leave their shelters. Israeli airspace was also reopened. Iran’s Revolutionary Guards threatened further attacks in the event of an Israeli response. In a message on the social media platform X, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said his country had given “a decisive response to the aggression of the Zionist regime”. Addressing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, he added: “He should know that Iran is not a warmonger, but stands firmly against any threat. This action was taken in defence of Iranian interests and citizens.” Jake Sullivan, White House National Security Council adviser, confirmed that the US military was coordinating closely with the Israeli Defence Forces to help defend Israel against this attack.
Jerusalem. “What happened in the Holy Land in the last hours is what we had dreaded. The constant escalation of hatred, the violence of man against man, pierced the skies of Jerusalem,” the Vicar of the Custody of the Holy Land, Fr Ibrahim Faltas, told SIR. “I was in our parish church at St Saviour’s Monastery celebrating the Triduum, preparing to celebrate the Feast of St Francis,” the priest said. “During Vespers we heard the sound of missiles overhead. We prayed in silence, worried for our brothers, for the people, for the Holy Places. The sky above the Holy City was struck by the violence of man. Jerusalem, Bethlehem, the Holy Land were lit up by the barrage of rockets.” Father Faltas also recalled the attack in Tel Aviv in which six people and the two terrorists were killed and many civilians wounded.
“Tonight Jerusalem is empty, sad, silent.”
“People are confined to their homes, schools will be closed tomorrow amidst growing insecurity and fear.” There is no solution in sight because, the Vicar of the Custody points out, “the political leaders have not shown any strong will for peace, that very peace that humanity longs for and desires because it is the only hope for our continued existence.” The next few hours will be decisive: “while it was possible to envisage an Iranian response, an Israeli response is already being announced. I don’t know what will happen next – he said. “We have not seen the kind of tangible commitment on the part of international diplomacy that could have prevented such a catastrophic escalation of the war in the Middle East.
I don’t understand what the powerful of the world are planning for the future of humanity, I don’t understand the plan, all I see are plans for destruction and cruelty,” said the Franciscan priest.
“Let us pray to the Almighty for an end to this fratricidal violence asking Him to support all suffering humanity.”
Bethlehem. Fear has also spread to Bethlehem, where “the ballistic missiles that Iran fired at Israel flew over and around even our Bethlehem University. Fortunately, it appears that they were intercepted and detonated in mid-air, but we are not sure if any of them hit the ground. We are facing a serious moment of insecurity,” reads the message sent to SIR by Br. Jack Curran, Vice-Rector of the Catholic University of Bethlehem, which is run by the Brothers of the Christian Schools and has some three thousand enrolled students, 40% of whom live in Jerusalem, just 8 kilometres away. The Catholic University is located about 2 kilometres from the Nativity Church. Brother Curran writes: “At this time we are awaiting further news as we have been informed that there might be another barrage of rockets. We are praying fervently for everyone’s safety. None of our students, faculty, staff, alumni or their families have been reported injured at this time. The Friars’ community and the nuns’ convent are also safe, for which we are deeply grateful. May our good and merciful God bless us all with peace and keep us safe,” the Vice-Rector concluded, “and may he guide us into a future where swords are turned into ploughshares.”
