Shmuel Bowman, Israel director of Operation Lifeshield, speaks with Susan Woodard, program director at Christian Family Radio, on Wednesday in Bowling Green, Kentucky

The rockets being fired into Israel by the Hamas regime in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon are getting more and more accurate.

When the siren sounds, those in Israeli cities under attack may have a minute, or maybe only 15 seconds, to get to a shelter before an incoming rocket launched by one of the militant Muslim groups causes mass destruction.

“That is not a lot of time,” Rabbi Shmuel Bowman said. “If you don’t run, you will be killed. We’re in a dangerous situation.”

Bowman is the Israel director of Operation Lifeshield, a nonprofit organization founded in 2007 by Shep Alster and Josh Adler to provide shelters for the citizens of the Jewish state who are under attack.

Bowman was in Bowling Green this week promoting the organization and thanking people in the area for their help in building such a shelter.

People from both the Christian and Jewish communities in Bowling Green raised money for a shelter that was put in Tzfat, a city in Northern Israel 15 miles from the Lebanese boarder.

That shelter was installed in October 2009.

More than half of the shelters donated to Israel have come from the Christian community in the United States, including Bowling Green, said Bart Britt, a member of Hillvue Heights Church and the southeast director of Operation Lifeshield and the Kentucky director of Israel Always.

There are two types of shelters manufactured, one fitting 30 people and another fitting 50 people. The smaller shelter costs $19,000; the larger shelter is $35,000. The organization also is seeking funding for first aid and communication equipment.

Britt said they are putting together plans for raising money for more shelters, with Bowling Green, Nashville and Louisville as prime fundraising areas.

“We are trying to reach out and let the people in Israel know we are concerned about what is happening in Israel,” Britt said. “And we’re letting the churches here know there is someone in Bowling Green they can contact.”

Operation Lifeshield has been networking within churches across the nation, hosting rallies to raise money to pay for the above-ground shelters. Bowman, with the help of the Israeli Defense Forces, oversees where the shelters need to go.

The organization is seeking funding to put 10 additional shelters in Ashkelon – a city in southern Israel seven miles from the Gaza Strip, and one of the areas with the most need for shelters.

Since 2005, more than 10,000 Hamas rockets and heavy mortars have been launched against the cities of Ashkelon and Sderot – another city in southern Israel.

When Hamas started shooting rockets at Israeli cities, the rockets were home-made from tubular poles of road signs, Bowman said. He said now more advanced weaponry is being smuggled in through underground tunnels.

“It’s like having an underground highway,” he said.

More advanced Korean-made rockets were introduced into the Hamas arsenal last year, Bowman said. The rockets have a range of 12.6 miles.

The concentration of firing has been on schools, synagogues and markets, which are places heavy populated during the day, Britt said. The bombs deployed are packed with shrapnel, glass and nails soaked in rat poison, he said.

“So when they explode, these projectiles are traveling at 200 miles an hour … so they can cause total destruction and death,” he said.

Earl Cox, president of Israel Always and a spokesman for Operation Lifeshield, said rockets are coming in routinely, and that the people of Israel live in trauma constantly. Cox travels to Israel frequently.

“And as I go there, I have to run, and when you are in a situation like that, you begin to feel like these people feel,” he said.

Britt said supporting Israel has been an interfaith movement. Bowman agreed, saying the Christian and Jewish communities have come together in response to the attacks. Ten years ago, Cox said when he went to Israel, the relationship between the Jewish and Christian communities was not good. He says that is changing.

“Terrorism has welded a relationship that has never been there before, in like mind and solidarity,” Cox said. “We have to stand together. As Americans, it’s in our best interest to stand with Israel and as Christians, it is a our biblical duty to do the same.”

In Ashkelon, the local government does not have the money to build shelters to protect its citizens.

“This is more than just a spiritual or Christian mission, it is a global issue,” Cox said. “People don’t hear … and I think once aware, they are moved to act.”

Bowman said having the shelters decreases anxieties among the citizens. To date, more than 50 shelters have been placed in Sderot, six in Ashkelon, three in the areas surrounding Ashkelon and about eight in the northern region of Israel.

“We believe through action, we can save lives,” Bowman said. “If there is not a shelter, I cannot guarantee what will happen. But, I can guarantee if there is a shelter, a life will be saved.”

By NATALIE JORDAN, The Daily News, njordan@bgdailynews.com/