Messianic Boy Wounded in Targeted Bomb Blast

Doctors are calling the continual improvement of Amiel Ortiz’ condition miraculous after the 15-year-old Messianic Jew was nearly killed in a bomb blast at his home in the settlement of Ariel.
 
“They’re using the word ‘miracle’ a lot,” David Ortiz, Amiel’s father, told Israel Today.
 
Amiel was critically wounded when he opened a basket delivered to his home during Purim. Since neighbors traditionally exchange baskets of treats on the holiday, he thought nothing of it. But when he pulled candy out of the box, a pipe bomb hidden inside exploded in his face. Officials told David Ortiz that it was most likely the work of ultra-Orthodox Jews.
 
“[The police] knew right away it wasn’t a Palestinian bomb,” David said. “Palestinians use [primitive] bombs, this was professional.”
 
Police are tight-lipped about the investigation. The blast was so powerful that it blew out all the windows in the apartment, sent shrapnel flying into the walls and through the refrigerator. The table where Amiel stood was obliterated. Authorities were shocked that Amiel’s hands weren’t blown off.
 
David Ortiz is a pastor of a Messianic congregation in Ariel, a Jewish town of 17,000 in Samaria (the so-called “West Bank”). Ortiz is openly evangelistic among both Jews and Palestinians. In fact, the Grand Mufti (Moslem spiritual leader) of Jerusalem issued a fatwa (death sentence) on Ortiz for his work among Moslems.
 
An American who immigrated to Israel with his wife Leah 23 years ago, Ortiz and all of his five older children have served in the Israeli army. Ami is the couple’s youngest son.
 
He has had two toes amputated and a few skin grafts. But several early assessments including loss of a lung and an eye have been rescinded as doctors note his miraculous improvement. 
 
“The doctor said he feels Amiel will make a full recovery,” Ortiz said. “The doctor told me, ‘I feel you son is going to walk out of this place.’”
 
Ortiz asked believers to pray for Amiel’s emotional healing as well: “Pray that God will give him the power to forgive.”