Shaken American Jewish people land back in the US amid Israel war
Jewish people land in the US after ‘madhouse’ last-minute flights out of Israel before Hamas bombing spree attacked Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport
- Ben-Gurion Airport, Israel’s main international gateway, was packed out by desperate travelers trying to escape on Monday
- Hamas bombed the airport amid the slaying of hundreds of Israelis – while Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to reduce Gaza to ‘rubble’
- Desperate Jewish Americans told heartbreaking stories of their escape from the besieged nation as they landed in the US on some of the last flights out
Terrified Jewish Americans who fled Israel amid full-scale war with Hamas have begun landing in the US on last-minute flights out of the besieged nation.
Ben-Gurion Airport, Israel’s main international gateway, was packed out by desperate travelers trying to escape on Monday – as the Palestinian militant group launched a rocket strike close to one of the terminals.
More than 700 Israelis have been killed since Hamas began a colossal attack over the weekend, per the Israel Defence Forces (IDF), while a further 1,200 people have been wounded, many critically.
The US government confirmed nine Americans are among those killed, and Secretary of State Antony Blinken said his department is working ‘overtime’ to verify reports of any more natives murdered.
Meanwhile, Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to incite ‘mighty vengeance’ against Hamas by reducing Gaza – which is also home to around two million innocent Palestinians – to ‘rubble’.
Terrified Jewish-American people who fled Israel amid full-scale war with Hamas have begun landing back in the US on last-minute flights out of the besieged nation. Edn Bendavid (pictured), who arrived in LA, California, from Tel Aviv on Sunday, broke down in tears
Ben-Gurion Airport, Israel’s main international gateway, was packed out by desperate travelers trying to escape on Monday – as the Palestinian militant group launched a rocket strike close to one of the terminals. (Pictured: the scene at the airport on Sunday)
At Tel Aviv’s Ben-Gurion Airport, departure boards glowed red with flight cancelations on Monday as hundreds of anxious travelers attempted to escape.
Edn Bendavid, who arrived in LA, California, from Tel Aviv on Sunday, broke down in tears as she spoke about her relatives who had been killed in the conflict.
‘We had to go because of our kids, but my heart is still there,’ she told KTLA.
‘All my family, everybody is there…my cousin’s husband just passed away trying to save other people. It’s horrible.’
Alan Goldfarb, a New Jersey native who had been on holiday in Israel with his sister, resorted to spending $2,000 for one of the last seats available on a flight back home.
‘It took four hours to get to the gate. It was a madhouse,’ he told CBS New York.
Another New Jersey tourist, Lauri Bader, is still in an Israel hotel with her sister, and they are hoping to secure a flight home soon.
‘Yesterday was the perfect day here in Israel,’ she told CBS. ‘Everything was fine and calm and beautiful and busy and vibrant, normal.
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Israelis are scrambling to escape to airports all over the world. (Pictured: passengers who fled the besieged nation arriving in Barajas Airport in Madrid, Spain, on Monday)
Emotional scenes were seen at airports around the world as people fled from Israel amid full-scale war between the country and Palestinian militant group Hamas
The departures come after a rocket salvo in the Tel Aviv area landed near a terminal at Ben-Gurion Airport. Video circulated online appeared to show smoke rising from near the airport’s carpark
‘And then this morning, we were woken up to a siren at 7:30 and we had to go to a safe room, which is like a bomb shelter.
‘It’s been very tumultuous, very unsettling, very upsetting, obviously.
‘I’m not so much worried about my own safety ’cause I’m in the safety of a hotel, but I am worried about the Israelis and what they’re going through right now because it’s a really horrendous situation.
‘Your heart breaks for them when you’re here because it’s no way to live and people have to live in fear and it’s not right, and I’m getting a little taste of it and it’s really, really horrible.’
The departures come after a rocket salvo in the Tel Aviv area landed near a terminal at Ben-Gurion Airport. Video circulated online appeared to show smoke rising from near the airport’s carpark.
A spokesperson for the Israel Airports Authority said there had been a mid-air rocket interception and a possible impact in a nearby village.
They added that there were no impacts at the airport itself.
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