The British stuck in Israel while Iranian strikes continue

Thousands of Britons are stuck in Israel and cannot leave, as Iran and Israel continue to attack each other in a reinforcing conflict that continues for days.

Israeli airspace is closed to a further notification and all flights are not grounded, without signs of immediate pause in hostilities.

Iran has released hundreds of rockets and drones in Israel in the last few days of revenge for Israeli strike on its military infrastructure on Friday.

Speaking to the BBC, British citizens Talk about sleepless nights, diverted by howls of sirens, constant trips back -back to bomb shelters and uncertainty not to know when they can go home.

Many of those who have applied are pressing the United Kingdom government to do more to help them, but the BBC understands that there are no evacuation plans at this stage.

The UK government has recommended against all trips to Israel and told British citizens in the country yes Register your presence And follow the local guidance.

Deborah Claiden, a 41-year-old, Hertfordshire teacher, flew to Israel last Wednesday for what was to be a three-day trip to attend her cousin’s wedding.

She is now trapped in Hetslia on Israel’s central coast with her 81-year-old mother as the missiles fly over her head.

Three hours after they returned from the wedding last Thursday night, “we heard sirens and we had to go to the bomb shelter,” she told the BBC.

“It was a trip of two halves: from delight to fear.”

Every night, Mrs. Clayden has been saying that she has been awakened repeatedly by alarms warning of incoming rockets and countdown to reach a shelter. They are lucky, she says, as their hotel has a well -equipped shelter, but “it’s scary and many people are panicked.”

“I remain positive because my mother is here with me,” says the mother three. “But this is awful. I don’t want to be here anymore. I don’t want to wake up three times a night, thinking that I can be hit by a rocket. I want to go home to my work and my children.”

At least 24 people have been killed in Israel since Friday, according to the Israeli Prime Minister’s office. The Iranian Health Ministry has said that, since Sunday, Israeli strikes have killed over 200 people across the country.

As the hostilities entered the fifth day on Tuesday, both sides promised more revenge.

Tel Aviv’s main international airport was closed on Friday and will not open until further notification, authorities said. All flights to and from Israel are stopped and thousands of canceled.

About 40,000 tourists are stuck in the country, the Israeli Ministry of Tourism said. Among them are those who traveled to Tel Aviv because of his annual Pride parade, which was to be held on Friday, but was canceled after hostilities erupted.

Some people are considering leaving Israel through the land crossings of neighboring Jordan or Egypt and receive flights from there.

On Tuesday, Mrs. Clayden, along with a group of tourists from other countries, began a long car trip to the border with Egypt, where she plans to travel to Sharm El-Sheke and fly home.

She said she was “too risky” to bring her mother, who would stay with her brother in a neighboring town.

Speaking to the BBC before the trip, D -Ja Claiden said he was “horrified”.

“This is a very unstable, uncertain situation, without knowing that I am more forthcoming to go or be more wearing to stay? Neither is safe. You don’t know when the airport will open. It can be days, it can be weeks.”

For some Britons, drought by land is an inability.

43-year-old Hannah Lyons-Sanger arrived in Jafa last Tuesday to take care of his father after he was hospitalized while on vacation in Israel with his mother. A few hours after he was discharged after a cardiac procedure, “war broke out,” she says.

Three’s mother from London said the situation was the tension of her elderly parents, especially when her father, who was eighties, must recover.

“We hear the explosions outside,” she told the BBC. “Some of them sound really close. There were direct hits within a few kilometers of us both in the last two nights.”

She added that she was “suffocating hot” in the shelter.

Mrs. Lyons-Singer is desperate to go home with her children and her father needs additional treatment in the UK, but making a trip to the border is not possible in his current state.

She called on the UK government to support British citizens better to return home.

“There are no different guidelines except a warning not to travel to Israel,” she says.

“They could offer a safe trip to Egypt or assure us that once the airspace opens, they will provide evacuation routes, but they did not offer us help at all.

“My fear is that even after the airspace opens, commercial flights may not start again again.”

The 79 -year -old Howard Youngerdwood Howard from London travels to Israel earlier this month for his granddaughter’s bar Mitsva. The Jewish age ceremony was shortened when hostilities broke out and were ordered to evacuate Kibbutz near Jerusalem.

“We’re exhausted,” he said. “We spend a lot of time – a hobby in my case – getting to the shelters. It takes this, especially when you hear about the victims.”

A retired judge, who has several disorders, including mobility problems, is unable to try to cross the land and does not consider it a safe option.

52-year-old Angus Eddie, who was stuck in Tel Aviv with his 22-year-old son Samuel, said the situation was “terrible” and the “lack of care” shown by the United Kingdom government to stuck British “shocking”.

As their flight was canceled on Friday, they were in and outside the shelters. On Monday, after feeling a massive explosion from their shelter at the Isrotel High School, against the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange, the hotel announced that it was closing and stated that they should look for a shelter underground.

“It seems that the situation is getting more difficult,” he said.

Eddie added that they called the British Consulate every day, advising them to register for email alerts.

“We even went to the embassy personally (on Monday) and they wouldn’t even tell us. It’s just shocking the lack of care.”

Thehe The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (FCDO) has advised all trips to Israel Due to a “fast moving situation that poses significant risks” that “the potential to get worse, faster and without warning.”

Official advice too Advises against all trips to IranS

Tourists from other nations are also stuck. The BBC talks to the Joiner family from the US on Sunday, who were among those who were disturbed when and how to try to leave.

Poland said it would begin to evacuate about 200 of its citizens in the coming days.

On Monday, Deputy Foreign Minister Henrika Moskika-Dondis said “stuck as tourists” will leave through the capital of Jordan Amman and then fly to Warsaw.

Meanwhile, the German Foreign Ministry has called on citizens in both Iran and Israel to enter into their contact data in an online emergency system. About 4,000 did it in Israel and about 1000 in Iran. A spokesman said there were no current evacuation plans from any country.

But other nations have evacuated citizens – a Czech government plane landed in Prague on Tuesday morning, transporting 66 people who were evacuated by Israel, the Minister of Defense confirmed. Poland said he was organizing flights from Egypt and Jordan for his citizens after more than 300 requested evacuation.

About 100,000 Israelis are evaluated abroad and cannot return to Israel. Authorities advised the Israelis not to try to cross the land because of security risks and to expect more fascinating travel opportunities.

Additional reporting by James Kelly