Jewish National Fund-USA is on the ground with communities in the south devastated by the attacks, ensuring immediate needs are met and future requirements are fulfilled. We have worked closely with these southern communities for decades. We know them better than anyone else, and will be there when they start to rebuild their lives in the future. I am supporting JNF-USA's $10 million Israel Resilience Campaign to fund these needs:

·     Evacuating 10,000 residents from Gaza border communities to safer places—the State covers the evacuation of everyone within 4 kilometers of the Gaza border but everyone within 7 kilometers must be evacuated – the entire area has become a closed military zone. We have evacuated 2,200 people to the Eilot region, 1,500 people to Ramat Hanegev, 1,500 people to Central Arava, and more every day.

·     Providing evacuees with necessary supplies such as bedding, toiletries, clothing, etc.
·     Providing firefighting and protective equipment for civil defense – the first responders to community emergencies -- including radios, bulletproof vests, helmets, and tactical clothing.
·     Providing high-quality psychological treatment for civilians, including children, who have experienced this catastrophe firsthand.
·     Providing respite activities for the children traumatized by terror.
·     Going from home to home in the cities of Sderot, Ofakim, and Arad to help the elderly, the infirmed, and the needy with food and medicine.
·     Promising to rebuild communities devastated by the attacks and keep the spirits and hopes of the people who live there, strong.
·     Caring for the children whose parents are on the Ovda Airforce Base in the Negev so the parents can continue their vital work protecting our homeland.

We support 10 Gaza Envelope communities most closely, including those hardest hit such as Sderot, Kissufim, and others. One of our communities, Kibbutz Reim was the site of the Nova Music Festival where 3,000 young people gathered to celebrate peace and music. So far, 260 attendees are among those massacred by Hamas gunmen and many were kidnapped from the festival and taken hostage.

We are preparing our community partners in the north for the possibility of an expanded conflict by requisitioning portable bomb shelters for community spaces.

Israelis are feeling like this is their 9/11 – yet proportionally at a per-capita scale 6x the magnitude. This attack has decimated many communities, but they will never destroy our spirit. We stand together, as one Jewish community, ready to help Israelis in this difficult time. Am Yisrael Chai.