Stuck in Israel

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My wife and I have dual American Israeli nationality. Last Thursday, 12th of April, we arrived in Israel from Cyprus for what was intended to be a four-day family visit.

In peacetime, there are many daily flights between Cyprus and Tel Aviv, with connections from Larnaca on the east side and Paphos on the west.

We generally stay with family in Hod Hasharon or a kibbutz in Amek Hefer, and visit family on their kibbutz in central Israel. We were awakened at 2:55am Friday morning by the first of many sirens accompanied by the news that Israel was attacking Iran. We then spent the first of many visits to the safe room/shelter.

Israel closed Ben Gurion airport and Aegean canceled our Monday flight out while, together with all other foreign airlines, cancelled all service to and from Israel for the foreseeable future. This has left tens of thousands of tourists/visitors stranded in Israel and as many as 150,000 Israeli tourists, stranded abroad.

There have been many innovative responses to the situation with Israelis looking to return to Israel and others looking to leave. As Israeli airspace is closed, there are only two ways to enter or leave: by sea to/from Cyprus, or by land to airports at Amman in Jordan or Sharm el Sheik in Egypt.

Travel to Egypt or Jordan requires a bus or taxi ride to the border, crossing the border, and then a bus or taxi ride to the airport or a hotel nearby.

One enterprising group of Israelis rented a tugboat in Cyprus and sailed back to Israel. Some entrepreneurial Israelis have started ferrying passengers back and forth between Cyprus for as much as €2,700. They have been using small craft, either sailboats or power.

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About 1,500 Taglit/Birthright tourists, mainly Americans, were stuck in Israel. They left for Cyprus on Tuesday on a cruise boat that was organized by the organization that arranged their 10 day visit. We have heard that an Israeli cruise company, Mano Sapanut, is going to use their boats to ferry people from Cyprus to Israel, a 12 hour ferry ride across the 320 km distance. A short phone call with the company revealed that they have no plans to sell tickets from Israel to Cyprus.

Their has been no shortage of advertisements on the TV with companies looking to help. If you are a Bank Le’umi customer you can register on their website so as to be ready for when they can assist you in returning to Israel. The state of Israel has set up a website for foreigners to register so that the state can help organize their departures when possible.

To date, no foreign embassy or consulate has organized evacuation of their staff or nationals in Israel. There have been no announcements, advertisements, plans or public officials addressing the needs of tourists and visitors to leave Israel. We’re planning to return to Cyprus at the first available opportunity.

For us, it’s not been too bad. We’ve had extra time with family punctuated by sirens and time in safe shelters interspersed with dashes to the supermarket and trips to different family homes while nervously looking at cell phones for possible alerts for incoming rockets, drones, or missiles while in transit.

The way the early warning system works is that one receives a location-based alert on your cell phone telling you to make sure you are close to a shelter. This is generally about 10-15 minutes before missiles are expected to arrive. Then simultaneously sirens sound and you get an alert on your cell phone to take shelter. After entering the shelter, closing the door, and finding a place to sit, just about everyone looks at their phones for news as to where missiles are landing and waiting for the all-clear.

While waiting one can hear the booms of interceptors exploding overhead, destroying the incoming missiles. The booms range from soft to very loud depending on the distance from you to the aerial interception.

Some find the process very stressful, especially those with young children, while many take it in their stride. 

Since the 1990s Israeli law has required that all new buildings for residential and commercial use include a safe or protected space to shelter against such attacks. Slightly less than 50% of homes have a safe room or access to a safe space in the building and there are many public shelters. The deaths and injuries to date all occurred outside of safe shelters except those killed in a direct missile hit on a safe room in a building in Petah Tikva early Monday morning.

The TV news channels devote 95% of their reporting to the Iran-Israel war with Gaza taking a backseat. Most of the news channel reporting consists of male-dominated panels whose main credentials appear to be ex military or intelligence agency service with a few political scientists from time to time.

We have no rush to leave, apart from our car racking up parking fees at Larnaca airport, and so will patiently wait out the next few days until we can find a safe way back to Cyprus.