Canadians stuck after flight cancelled amid deadly fighting between Israel and Hamas
What began as a vacation to visit relatives in Israel has become a desperate bid to get home for a Canadian family now stuck there amid deadly fighting between Israel and Hamas.
Rus Benco, his wife and their two young children – aged 10 months and two years old – had been in the town of Tiberias for three weeks when Hamas militants launched a surprise incursion from Gaza into Israel on Saturday.
“It’s terrifying, and we’re thinking (about) how to get out,” Benco tsaid in an interview over Zoom on Tuesday. “We didn’t even know how serious it would be at the beginning, but I think it’s becoming clearer and clearer that probably the best strategy is to leave the country now, because it doesn’t seem like it’s something that is going to quiet down in the very near future.”
The family is scheduled to return home to Pickering, Ont., on Oct. 30 but said they don’t feel safe staying until the end of the month. Although several hours by car from the fighting near Gaza, Benco said he worries they could be in danger if fighters from Lebanese militant group Hezbollah try to invade Israel from the north.
Despite his efforts, Benco has not been able to secure a flight out of Israel earlier than Oct. 16, and he’s worried that flight will be cancelled.
Air Canada joined other airlines on Sunday and temporarily cancelled all flights to Tel Aviv, ending the only direct commercial air links between Israel and Canada via Toronto and Montreal.
Benco had been scheduled to fly on his own from Tel Aviv to Europe for a short trip on Oct. 13, but as with so many other flights through Tel Aviv, it was cancelled.
“So we’re looking for various options to get out, and now we have two tickets, one for the 16th and another one for the 30th,” he said.
For now, Benco and his family will hold on to both reservations and hope the earlier flight isn’t cancelled. In the meantime, Benco said he has reached out to the Embassy of Canada to Israel twice for guidance in the past 36 hours but that he hasn’t received any useful information.
“I just get a blank answer saying to shelter in place, try to look for other airlines and listen to the local government directions, so there hasn’t been really anything to signal that there is a strategy to take care of the Canadians,” he said. “I think some type of messaging would be good to know whether there is a strategy or not, in case things intensify.”
ESCALATING VIOLENCE
Hamas militants stormed into Israel on Saturday, killing civilians and soldiers alike and taking at least 150 people hostage, including children and the elderly, according to the Israeli government. A combined total of at least 1,800 have died on both sides following reprisal strikes from Israel. Hamas has been declared a terrorist group by Canada and many other western nations.
Among the dead are two Canadians who’d been attending a desert music festival(opens in a new tab) in Israel.
Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly told CTV News on Monday that at least three Canadians are reported missing, but would not confirm if they had been kidnapped by Hamas.
“We’re in touch with families,” Joly told CTV News’ Power Play. “In the context of potential hostage-taking… we don’t want to increase the value of these hostages or put their lives even more at risk.”
Joly also responded to reports that Canada’s embassy in Tel Aviv was closed or maintaining holiday hours during the Thanksgiving weekend, making it difficult for Canadians to get consular assistance.
“I made sure that they were open,” Joly said. “The team has been working since the beginning of this terrorist attack by Hamas, which of course we condemn, since Saturday.”
According to Joly, 2,500 Canadians are registered with the embassy in Israel, including 500 in Gaza and the West Bank. Canada also has a consular office in Ramallah, the West Bank’s de facto administrative capital.
It’s unclear how many Canadians might be stranded in the Gaza Strip currently, as Israel ordered on Monday for the region’s electricity to be cut off, complicating communication going in and out of the region.
Joly said Canada has increased capacity at the embassies in neighbouring Egypt, Lebanon and Jordan to assist in the crisis.
“Eight hundred calls have been received and responded (to) by the team,” Joly said. “Every ask we’ve had has been responded (to).”
Joly would not say if Canada plans to follow countries like Poland, Italy and Brazil and send military evacuation flights for its citizens. She urged Canadians caught up in the conflict to “shelter in place.” On Tuesday, Canada’s Conservative opposition called on the federal government to immediately commence evacuation flights for Canadian citizens stranded in Israel.
“We don’t want to advise Canadians to go to the airport, for example, in Tel Aviv if they’re at risk of any rockets being launched, and therefore their lives could be in danger,” Joly said. “At the same time, we’re looking at what can be done and working with allies on this very issue.”
Global Affairs Canada is urging Canadians to avoid all non-essential travel to Israel, the West Bank and Gaza.
STRANDED AND SCARED
Canadians Mike Safi and Silvana Nematallah are currently stranded at a hotel in Jerusalem. With their original flights to Canada cancelled, they are now hoping to return home later in the week via Turkiye and England.
“It’s been a very harrowing four days,” Nematallah told CTV News Channel on Tuesday. “Yesterday was the worst day. We were going down to the bunker when we heard the sirens many, many times in the day, so that was very, very scary.”
Safi says he spent 20 minutes waiting for consular help on the phone, and that he was advised to fill out an online form and stand by for more information.
“That was four days ago; until now, no one got back to me,” Safi said. “I’m just really disappointed, even appalled, at the lack of help that I received from the embassy.”
Safi and Nematallah said they booked their new flights themselves and were hoping that Canada could at least arrange seats on another country’s evacuation flights.
“We need a pathway out,” Nematallah said. “We need to leave before things continue to escalate and become extremely dangerous.”
The Department of National Defence, which previously helped Canadians evacuate from conflicts in Sudan and Afghanistan, referred questions on the matter to Global Affairs Canada, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Canadian Armed Forces currently contributes to three multinational security missions in the region and has a presence in Jerusalem, Lebanon, Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula and the Golan Heights between Israel and Syria.
“We can confirm that all (Canadian Armed Forces) members are safe and accounted for,” a defence spokesperson told CTVNews.ca. “We also currently do not anticipate a requirement for Canadian military assistance from Israel.”
This article was reported by CTV News
