This was my very first trip to a developing country so I was a little nervous.

To make it worse, it was to one of the most dangerous places in the world: The Gaza Strip. Gaza had only recently been given over to the Palestinians by Israel as part of a new peace deal.

All the Israelis had left Gaza in Palestinian hands. Yasir Arafat and the PLO were in control. And Hamas was on the rise – a terrorist group and an arch rival to the PLO.

After a really long couple of flights, I remember going through customs at Tel Aviv airport in Israel. The customs official asked me for the “purpose of my visit” and I told him I was with a medical mission group that going to Gaza to provide surgery for children.

He crinkled up his nose in disgust and asked, ” Why do you want to do that?”

As he continued to give me a hard time, all of these alarms went off and everyone started running for the exits. He looked at me and yelled, “Bomb! Bomb! get out and get out!”

I grabbed my passport and we all ran for the exits. Thousands of us stood outside for about half an hour while they conducted a search for a bomb. That was my first and last bomb scare.

After we were all allowed back into the airport, the customs official continued to be hostile, obnoxious and suspicious but he eventually let me into the country.

Next step was a long bus ride with our entire group down the coast to the Gaza Strip.

Gaza City Trip

# Gaza City Trip

#Gaza City Trip