Members of churches in Glasgow and Bowling Green and a man from Somerset are currently trapped in Israel.
Sixteen members of River Lake Church were on a tour of the Holy Land when Hamas initiated a widespread missile attack on military sites and civilian areas in Israel early Saturday morning. The church group was scheduled to leave Monday.
River Lake Church Pastor Nic Smith posted on the church’s Facebook page on Monday morning, calming fears of family members of those caught in the crossfire.
“We are really good. We’re stuck, we’re stuck in Israel right now. But we’re safe and that really is the most important thing,” Smith said in the roughly 90 second message.
Members of Broadway United Methodist Church in Bowling Green are also in Israel, although Pastor Jason Brown told WKYU.com that he was unsure of how many of his parishioners were overseas. Brown did, though, confirm to the WKU National Public Radio news outlet that the congregants were safe.
Additionally, a Somerset pastor, Alan Dodson, is stuck in the Holy Land, according to WYMT.com. Dodson, the television station reports, travels to Israel with a company that offers tours of the Holy Land. Dodson said he is “in a safe place between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.”
Israel, including the disputed Palestinian enclaves Gaza Strip (where the air strikes originated) and West Bank, is slightly larger than Massachusetts and slightly smaller than New Jersey.
The conflict’s death toll as of late Monday night stood between 1,500 and 2,000, according to YahooNews.com. News agencies are offering disparate accounts as to how many Americans have been killed in the conflict, but the reporting indicates between eight and 12 U.S. fatalities thus far.
(Photo: Hamas missile attack on Israel, courtesy of The Times of Israel.com)
By Ken Howlett, News Director
Contact Ken at ken@k105.com
