Israel’s skies were closed last Saturday morning, stranding thousands of Israelis abroad. On the first return flights were 100 senior physicians and department heads in major fields like surgery, intensive care, and anesthesiology, as well as nurses and other medical staff. There are still 1,145 medical workers from all sectors stranded abroad, and the Health Ministry is assembling to bring them back to Israel. The Health Ministry even developed an application for stranded workers to enter their personal details and location to better facilitate their return. The transportation costs are being funded by the State of Israel. Earlier in the week, a cargo ship operated by ZIM sailed from Cyprus to Haifa with dozens of medical workers on board.
Professor Ilan Shelef, the head of imaging at Soroka Medical Center in Beersheva, along with his wife who is also a nurse at the hospital, had traveled to be present at the birth of their granddaughter but their return flight was canceled on Saturday morning. He said, “It’s a complicated feeling to be abroad during an emergency. It doesn’t feel right to be a department head and not be in the country during such a difficult situation, especially at Soroka, which is facing significant challenges. It’s hard and uncomfortable to be outside Israel when things like this happen.” However, he also said the team is well prepared and experienced. “They know how to work under unusual circumstances and are doing everything exceptionally well, just as they did on October 7.”
Please pray for the strategic return of health care workers to Israel to help care for the sick and injured, and to exchange out the people who have worked hard during these initial days of war.
The Mossad (Israel’s intelligence agency) had hacked into Tehran’s massive traffic camera surveillance network. This allowed them to track Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s bodyguards and other top Iranian officials. In doing so, it built mountains of information about the guard’s work schedules, addresses, and who they were assigned to protect—giving preemptive updates of which leader and his detail would be where.
An Israeli intelligence agent said, “We knew Tehran like we know Jerusalem. When you know [a place] as well as you know the street you grew up on, you notice a single thing that is out of place.”
Israel had built AI tools and algorithms to help with the data. Many key pieces had to be in place in order for the timing of the coming attack to commence. Israel and the USA had planned for the preemptive strikes to start under the cover of darkness on Friday night. Those were delayed because the hacked data showed that Khamenei and many senior leaders would be at a meeting at his compound on Saturday morning. That morning, Israel and the USA disrupted cellular service to the compound. This delayed the bodyguards from delivering messages to those they were meant to protect; instead, their phones were without signal or had busy signals.
The New York Times reported, “The timing was ultimately determined by a remarkable intelligence coup,” in an extensive report that chronicled US President Donald Trump’s decision to go to war. “The CIA, which had been closely tracking Ayatollah Khamenei’s movements, learned that the supreme leader was planning to be at his residential compound in central Tehran on Saturday morning. Senior Iranian civilian and military leaders were also set to convene at the same location, at the same time. The CIA passed the intelligence to the Israelis, and leaders of both countries decided to kick off the war with a bold ‘decapitation’ strike in daylight.”
Please pray for wisdom for Israeli and American intelligence forces, that they may know when it is the right moment to pause, to move forward, or to hold back in this war.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) accomplished clandestine work over the last few days by following Iranian nuclear scientists who traveled to the Min Zadai nuclear development site on the northeast outskirts of Tehran, then destroying it. Although it is not a site that enriches uranium, it develops parts of the weapons used in a nuclear bomb. Although the June 2025 Israeli bombing campaign destroyed many sites related to weapons development, this secret location was only just discovered. Its presence suggests that Iran was making progress to rebuild and refurbish sites that were thought to be destroyed. Its destruction helps to limit the assembly of future weapons.
Please pray that other sites for nuclear weapons manufacturing might be found and destroyed.
This past week, an Israeli Air Force (IAF) pilot in a F-35I fighter jet shot down an Iranian Yak-130 jet over Tehran. It was a world’s first downing of a manned aircraft by an F-35. It also marked the first time in over 40 years that the Israeli Air Force engaged in air-to-air combat. The Iranian jet had endangered the IAF aircraft and would have hit the Israeli plane, so the pilot fired a missile while it was on a mission to target Iranian regime sites in Tehran.
Although the pilot was a junior in the IAF, it was not his first flight in Iran. The IAF plans to mark the F-35I with a ‘victory mark’ decal on the side of the plane. This shows the achievement of the plane and the pilot, and it is the first time in almost two decades that a victory mark will be placed on an Israeli plane.
Please pray for the Israeli Air Force who are working to find weapons, ballistic missile launchers, and nuclear sites. Pray also for Iran’s regime leaders to allow the people of Iran and the Middle East to live in freedom, and without fear of retaliation or build-up of their proxies Hezbollah, Hamas, and the Houthis.
As our ministry staff in Israel works to share the gospel in bomb shelters and meet the physical and spiritual needs of their communities, read their testimonies of how the Lord has empowered them to do His work in the land even in the midst of war:
“In between multiple runs to the fortified shelter, I had coffee with a young woman I met at one of our hosting networks during a Sabbath meeting. After the dinner, a group of us played a card game where you share your life story in answers to questions. Through the game, I shared my testimony. We had kept in touch the remaining year she kept traveling. Fast forward to our coffee time in between shelter runs, she asked me to share my full life story! While sharing, she stopped me mid-conversation; she said she had chills and was resonating with so much of my journey, and more importantly, about Yeshua’s love.
“She shared her journey from eastern spirituality to desiring to know her own roots and explore the Hebrew Scriptures. She wanted to find truth and to understand and experience how to know God. Her spiritual journey has been long, and I pray that these God-ordained connections will sew together the gaps of her search. During the war and these unexpected opportunities, our staff is praying for and expecting to talk with people about His love and the salvation He brings. We don’t need to search—we have been found by Him!”
Please pray for the protection of Israelis during this time of war, especially for civilians as they are running to and from bomb shelters. Pray that this young woman and other Israelis would discover the love and salvation that God brings through the Messiah!
“We thank God that when rockets strike and there are casualties, government emergency services respond quickly and provide necessary assistance. However, there are still many people whose needs go unmet—not only financially, but most importantly, spiritually. Families, elderly individuals, and those living alone are experiencing deep fear and stress. Our team is doing everything possible to support people both practically and spiritually. In this difficult and frightening time, we are using every opportunity to help people find salvation. We all understand how fragile life is right now. Without Jesus, death is eternal separation—but in Him there is hope.
“I want to share with you what the Lord has enabled us to do in these past few days:
Praise God for the care, provision, conversation, prayer, and support happening among the communities that the team in Israel serves. Please pray for them!
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Israel’s new emergency alerts. (Photo: Israel Home Front Command)