Joel Rosenberg meets real-life heroes in one of the central scenes of Hamas' Oct. 7 massacre

Residents of the city of Sderot in southern Israel were used to living under constant rocket fire from Gaza over the years. Still, nothing prepared them for the scale and brutality of Hamas’ onslaught that took place on Oct. 7. 

Joel Rosenberg, ALL ISRAEL NEWS editor-in-chief, returned to one of the major scenes of the atrocities during last week’s episode of THE ROSENBERG REPORT on the TBN network. Along with Pastor Michael Beener of the City of Life Congregation in Sderot, and his wife Dina, Rosenberg delivered food supplies to surviving families through The Joshua Fund and heard their incredible stories.

While there, they met with Olga, a woman originally from Ukraine whose husband passed away one year ago. She has been raising their two young children by herself. 

On the morning of the Hamas massacre, she was walking her dogs in Sderot. Suddenly, Olga’s neighbors started to shout to her: “Fast! Fast! Fast, run around the home because there are terrorists!” 

She told Rosenberg that her children are still very much traumatized by the events of Oct. 7 and not sleeping well. Sometimes they are even too scared at night to go to the bathroom, and she is too afraid to send them to school.

Olga and her family survived, however, Pastor Beener's congregation lost many community members on that day. Some of them were killed by the terrorists at the very same bus stop where their children take the bus to go to school. 

“They came near the bus station and killed people here,” Michael recounted. “There were many bodies on this side… people who we know.”

“We are local pastors, and we are helping many people with necessary things like food and diapers. Many people know about us, and we know them. And when you recognize the faces… people you help… get to their homes for so many times… sit down with them, talk to them… you bring them compassion and now you saw them killed,” the pastor continued.  

The Beeners woke up that morning to rocket sirens and the sound of Hamas terrorists walking on their street, under their windows, shouting ‘Allahu Akbar’ and shooting automatic weapons. They then began to see friends and neighbors being slaughtered by Hamas.

“We got out from the bomb shelter and we didn't believe our ears because we heard ‘Allah,’" Michael Beener recalled. 

He explained that the city has no Arab population, maybe only a few residents, so, at first, they found it hard to imagine a terrorist infiltration from Gaza. The terrifying reality was quickly revealed to them and their two young sons. 

“They came to our yard, and we had to lie down on the floor. We understood that we're not protected anymore because the bomb shelter didn’t protect us. It's not locked,” said Michael. 

“I know you guys love the Lord Jesus, but why do you live here yet?” Rosenberg asked the couple. 

His wife Dina explained that she thought of leaving in the past, when she was an unmarried woman, “but every time I try to leave the city, I hear the understandable voice of God: You must stay, dear, because this is your place. I chose it for you.” 

Michael made aliyah (immigrated to Israel) from Ukraine in 2006 and arrived in Sderot, where he met Dina. 

That same year, Rosenberg and his wife Lynn founded The Joshua Fund, the Evangelical ministry that helps Israeli followers of Yeshua (Jesus), like the Beeners, to show the unconditional love of Jesus in poverty-stricken and war-torn communities like Sderot.

“We prayed together,” Michael told Rosenberg. “We got married and understood God wants us here. This is God's calling, and we really see how God miraculously acts here. What God does here. During the many years and until today, we have seen so many miracles.” 

“I saw many people here who received Yeshua as a savior and the Lord,” the pastor told Rosenberg. “This is the main goal for why we live here on earth and why we are here in Israel, to tell people God loves them and has for them a plan of salvation.”

One of Dina’s friends, who was murdered on Oct. 7, had rejected the faith for years. 

“I prayed for her for two years,” she said. “It was a real miracle that three weeks before she died, she prayed and received Yeshua as her Savior and Lord… It was needed time to show her that Yeshua – Jesus – is the Jewish Messiah… and the moment came that she said: ‘Yes. I understand. I believe.’”