Escaping from Israel, U.S. families take tumultuous flights home after Hamas attacks
Families caught in the conflict between Israel and Hamas began trickling into American airports Friday and Saturday after days without flights available.
As the war swiftly unfolded, major American airlines canceled flights in and out of Ben Gurion in Tel Aviv, Israel’s sole international airport, making it difficult for Americans in Israel to return home as the number of U.S. citizens confirmed dead amid the conflict rose to 29, according to a Saturday statement from the State Department.
On a rainy Saturday afternoon, families on tumultuous paths originating in Israel arrived at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport, having stopped over in Athens, Madrid, Rome and other European hubs. Many boarded flights on the Sabbath, the Jewish day of rest, including some whose religious practice typically forbade such travel.
On Saturday, a 37-year-old husband, who gave his name as David, waited for his wife and child at JFK’s Terminal 4 arrivals area. His wife Ruth, 37, and their 3-year-old daughter emerged from the sliding glass doors with a cart full of suitcases and her daughter’s small brightly colored scooter. The Manhattan couple declined to give their last names or their daughter’s name out of concern for their family’s safety.
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When David saw them pass through the sliding doors, he ran past the metal railings, picked up his daughter, hugged and kissed her and spun her around. Ruth wiped away tears as her daughter laughed and smiled, seeing her dad after a month away.
The Manhattan family was among many that began reuniting in the days after the Biden administration announced it would charter flights from Israel to European destinations so they could book connecting flights home. Delta announced it added three additional flights from Israel for U.S. citizens that went from Athens to JFK arriving Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, all at 4:45 p.m. eastern.
“The United States has no higher priority than the safety of its citizens overseas,” said Stephanie Hallett, the chargé d'affaires ad interim at the U.S. Embassy in Israel, in a prerecorded address on Friday, when flights out of the region began. “Any American citizen needing the embassy’s help will get it.”
Hiding tears from children
The reunited couple at JFK said they still hoped to move to Israel before the new year. David and Ruth were both born there; their child was born in the U.S.
A week had passed since the Hamas attacks began. On that Saturday, Ruth and her daughter were at her mother’s home in Eilat, Israel’s southernmost city, a short drive from the Egyptian border. Friends of Ruth's died in that incursion, and she'd talked with a cousin while he hid in a bomb shelter near Gaza for more than 12 hours, hiding from militants who had besieged the town.
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Ruth spent the week trying to escape, making calls to airlines. On Tuesday, an agent found them a flight the following day to Madrid through Tel Aviv. Flights they considered cost as much as $9,000, she said.
They spent a few days in Madrid, in a country Ruth had never visited. She didn't speak the language and she was tending to her daughter while trying to navigate the tragedy she'd left behind.
“I needed to take care of her and everything was super crazy,” she said. “I was going to the restroom to cry so she (wouldn’t) see me.”
The family has tickets to return to Israel in 10 days. Ruth said she felt optimistic that conditions could improve, but she wants the fighting to stop.
“We don’t want anyone to get hurt, not them, not us,” she said. “Have peace. That’s what I feel.”
Bombs from the hotel room
At Newark International Airport on Friday, Jeff Eliah, of Florida, recalled details from his lengthy, treacherous journey to the U.S. He and his wife had been visiting Israel for a wedding. They were in the town of Jaffa when they heard the sounds of a bomb and were advised to not leave their hotel room.
He said his complex flight itinerary took him from Tel Aviv to Cyprus, then to Athens and finally to Newark.
“It was crazy. But we got very lucky," Eliah said. "We got the first flight out to Cyprus. A couple of other flights were canceled.”
Despite these extensive efforts to reach safety, he was still not home. His next destination was Florida, where he hoped to find sanctuary.
Americans fleeing encouraged to reach out to U.S. Embassy
While officials encouraged Americans in Israel and the West Bank to register online, Hallett, from U.S. Embassy in Israel, acknowledged the challenges for Americans in Gaza, which remains under blockade, bombings and an impending siege by Israeli military. She encouraged Americans in Gaza to reach out to the American embassy in Israel online. Much of Gaza remains without electricity, which could make that request tricky.
Americans on second-leg flights from Athens and Frankfurt arrived from Israel as the State Department issued another travel advisory Saturday, again urging Americans to “reconsider travel” to Israel and the West Bank due to terrorism and unrest. U.S. officials issued another advisory not to travel to Gaza because of terrorism, civil unrest and armed conflict.
Waiting is also trying, some in the JFK terminal said. On Saturday afternoon, Dave Moore, of Larchmont, New York, waited for his wife of many years to return from Israel on a flight from Rome. The couple wore similar, circular-shaped glasses with black, metallic rims. She didn’t speak, only sobbed quietly, when Moore embraced her.
Manahil Ahmad of The Bergen Record contributed to this story.
Eduardo Cuevas covers health and breaking news for USA TODAY. He can be reached at EMCuevas1@usatoday.com.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: American families escape Israel in confusing flight paths
