Katey Hearth, Mission Network News

As the fourth week of war begins, SAT-7 ARABIC’s Viewer Support team offers prayer and comfort to Christians in the Holy Land.

One young viewer, who has additional needs and lives with her grandmother in a home for older adults, sent this message in response:

“I’m doing well, but it’s a very frightening situation. I’m constantly praying, and what brings me comfort is knowing that God is with us through it all. Please keep us in your prayers that this war may come to an end and that the suffering and loss of people can stop.”

Israel orders a “complete siege” of Gaza and calls up thousands of reserve troops as war rages for a third day between Israeli forces and Palestinian militants.

Israel is expected to launch a ground incursion, and it cut off electricity, food, and fuel to Gaza yesterday. A formal declaration of war on Sunday followed the deadliest raid on Israel’s territory in 50 years.

Hopeful trends emerge in the Deaf world. On a global scale, “you see more and more sign language interpreters accompanying the announcements [in various settings],” DOOR International’s Rob Myers says.

“Even just having interpreters there brings a lot of awareness that sign language is a need, sort of a visual reminder that Deaf people need access to the same information.”

Confusion compounds despair in Libya.

Protestors torched the home of Derna’s mayor on Monday night, the first unrest since floodwaters overwhelmed the port city last week. As reporters described their removal from Derna, telecommunications that survived the flooding were cut short on Tuesday morning.

Meanwhile, the United Nations dramatically revised the disaster’s death toll after receiving conflicting information from aid agencies. The fatalities now stand at “Approximately 4,000 people versus 11,000 people,” Joe Wiley with SAT-7 USA says.

Terror plagues a majority-Christian nation in central Africa, and it goes by a three-letter name: ADF. The Allied Defense Forces (ADF) claimed 55 deaths in the first two weeks of August, killing 19 people in a single attack.

Based in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the jihadists frequently target Christians in the eastern region. ADF terrorists killed 72 believers during two weeks in March and 80 Christians over 10 days in April.

Niger’s coup threatens stability in West Africa. It’s the region’s seventh military takeover in the past three years.

“Niger is a strategic location because of the bordering countries: Algeria, Libya, Mali, [and] Nigeria,” World Mission’s Greg Kelley says.

Security forces locked the president down on Wednesday, holding him captive in his home. The mutinous soldiers called their actions a coup, and the army added its support yesterday.

Morality police are back on patrol as Iran announces a new campaign enforcing the mandatory hijab. On Sunday, officers patrolled the streets of Tehran in marked vans.

Women reach out to Heart4Iran’s 24/7 call center daily for prayer and counselling. “The stress, the threat, the anxiousness is with every woman inside the country,” Heart4Iran’s Nazanin Baghestani says.

“They cannot go on the streets [because] they are afraid that they will be caught; they are being followed.”

In 1455, Gutenberg’s printing press changed the world.

Books – like the Bible – could be mass-produced for the first time ever, making Scripture more accessible. The Protestant Reformation followed shortly thereafter.

Wycliffe USA V.P. Andrew Flemming says we’re at a similar time in history right now.

“God is on the move. There is more active Bible translation going on in the world than has ever happened before,” Flemming says.

“It’s no mistake that artificial intelligence is coming along at this very moment, and we need to take advantage of that.”

Türkiye, formerly known as Turkey, tops the headlines again as the fallout from last week’s epic disaster unfolds.

Millions of earthquake survivors in this country and neighboring Syria desperately need help to survive another day.

Turkey’s death toll keeps climbing as rescuers pull more bodies from the rubble after the 7.8 magnitude earthquake on Monday.

The record-breaking earthquakes rocked Turkey and parts of Syria yesterday, collapsing buildings and burying people alive. The death toll is exceeding 3,500 at press time, with more than 10,000 injured.

Paul*, a friend of Trans World Radio, is on the ground with his team in Turkey.

"[The] most damaged city is Antioch; we had a radio station there," says Paul. "I will go with my wife to Antioch [to survey the situation.]"