A Christian journalist living in Bethlehem has told Premier of the constant safety alerts warning of incoming rocket and missile attacks in the region.

Paul Calvert was speaking shortly after the US and Israeli attacks on Iran began and he described the frequent buzzing of alerts warning people of incoming fire from Iran and wider afield:

“My phone has been going off all morning with alerts. There’s been quite a few alerts in the Galilee area, which would tell me that Hezbollah are firing rockets into Israel.

“There were also reports of alerts from the Gaza envelope, which would tell me that Hamas are firing rockets into Israel.

“You literally swipe one alert away and let the next one comes in. Then the sirens start going off. I would say most of the Israelis are actually just staying in their bomb shelter, because by the time you come out, there's another alert again. So it's very, very difficult for them. Here in Bethlehem, in the Palestinian area, we don't have bomb shelters, so you've really just got to go into a safe place in your house.

“I don't feel personally that sense of fear. But I do know that many people will have a sense of fear. If you're disabled or elderly and you want to try and get to your safe place, then that can be difficult, or if you've got an elderly person and try to physically lift them out of the chair and take them to the bomb shelter. It can be very, very difficult indeed.”

The journalist said this latest military action feels different to the previous US strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities:

“Iran is fighting for their life. Their own regime is collapsing, even before America and Israel started this. So they might be very despotic and say, ‘Well, we're losing it anyway, so we might as well fire everything at Israel.’ And when you're fighting for your life, you don't really care.”