EPAThousands of Britons are stranded in Israel and unable to leave, as Iran and Israel continue to attack each other in an intensifying conflict that has been ongoing for days.
The Israeli airspace is closed until further notice and all flights have been grounded, with no sign of an imminent pause in hostilities.
Iran has launched hundreds of missiles and drones at Israel over the past few days in retaliation for Israeli strikes on its military infrastructure on Friday.
Speaking to the BBC, British nationals spoke of sleepless nights punctuated by the wail of sirens, constant trips back and forth to bomb shelters and the uncertainty of not knowing when they will be able to get home.
Many of those stranded are pressing for the UK government to do more to help them, but the BBC understands that, at this stage, there are no plans for an evacuation.
The UK government has advised against all travel to Israel and told British citizens in the country to follow local guidance.
Deborah Claydon, 41, a teacher from Hertfordshire, flew to Israel last Wednesday for what was supposed to be a three-day trip to attend her cousin’s wedding.
She now finds herself trapped in Herzliya on Israel’s central coast with her 81-year-old mother, as missiles fly overhead.
Three hours after they returned from the wedding last Thursday evening, “we heard sirens and had to go to the bomb shelter,” she told the BBC.
“It was a trip of two halves: from elation to fear.”
Every night since, Ms Claydon says she has been woken multiple times by alarms warning of incoming missiles and a count-down to get to a shelter. They are lucky, she says, as their hotel has a well-equipped shelter but “it’s scary and a lot of people are panicky”.
“I’m staying positive because my mum’s here with me,” the mother-of-three says. “But it’s horrible. I don’t want to be here anymore. I don’t want to be woken up three times a night thinking I might be hit by a missile. I want to get home to my job and my kids.”
At least 24 people have been killed in Israel since Friday, according to the Israeli prime minister’s office. Iran’s health ministry said that as of Sunday, Israeli strikes had killed more than 200 people across the country.
As hostilities entered the fifth day on Tuesday, both countries vowed further retaliation.
Tel Aviv’s main international airport was shuttered on Friday and will not open until further notice, authorities have said. All flights to and from Israel have been suspended and thousands cancelled.
Around 40,000 tourists are stuck in the country, Israel’s Ministry of Tourism has said. Among them are those who travelled to Tel Aviv for its annual Pride parade, which had been due to take place on Friday but was cancelled after hostilities broke out.
Some people are considering leaving Israel via land crossings to neighbouring Jordan or Egypt and getting flights from there.
On Tuesday, Ms Claydon, along with a group of tourists from other countries, began a long journey by car to the border with Egypt where she plans to travel to Sharm El-Sheik and fly home.
She said it is “too risky” to bring her mother, who will stay with her brother in a neighbouring town.
Speaking to the BBC ahead of the journey, Ms Claydon said she was “terrified”.
“It’s a very unstable, uncertain situation, not knowing am I safer to go or am I safer to stay? Neither is safe. You don’t know when the airport’s going to open. Could be days, could be weeks.”
For some Britons, travelling by land is an impossibility.
Hannah Lyons-Singer, 43, arrived in Jaffa last Tuesday to care for her father, after he was hospitalised while on holiday in Israel with her mother. A few hours after he was discharged following a heart procedure, “war broke out,” she says.
The mother-of-three, from London, said the situation was a strain on her elderly parents, particularly when her father, who is in his eighties, should be recuperating.
“We hear the explosions outside,” she told the BBC. “Some of them sound really close. There’s been direct hits within a couple of kilometres of us both over the past two nights.”
She added that it is “stifling hot” in the shelter.
Ms Lyons-Singer is desperate to get home to her children and her father requires further treatment in the UK, but making the hours-long journey to the border isn’t feasible in his current condition.
She has called on the UK Government to better support British citizens to return home.
“There’s no guidance other than a warning not to travel to Israel,” she says.
“They could be offering secure travel to Egypt or reassuring us that once the airspace opens, they will provide evacuation routes, but they haven’t offered us any help at all.
“My fear is that even once the airspace opens, commercial flights may not immediately start again.”
Howard Youngerwood, 79, from London, travelled to Israel earlier this month for his granddaughter’s Bar Mitzvah. The Jewish coming-of-age ceremony was cut short when hostilities erupted and they were ordered to evacuate the kibbutz near Jerusalem.
“We are exhausted,” he said. “We spend a lot of time – hobbling in my case – getting to the shelters. It is taking a toll, especially when you hear of the casualties.”
The retired judge, who has several ailments, including mobility issues, is unable to attempt a land crossing and doesn’t consider it a safe option.
Angus Edy, 52, who is stuck in Tel Aviv with his 22-year-old son, Samuel, said the situation was “horrendous” and the “lack of care” shown by the UK government towards stranded Brits “shocking”.
Since their flight was cancelled on Friday, they have been in and out of shelters. On Monday, after they felt the reverberation of a massive explosion from their shelter at the Gymnasia Isrotel, opposite the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange, the hotel announced that it was closing and said they should seek a shelter further underground.
“It seems like the situation is getting more and more and more difficult,” he said.
Mr Edy added that they had been phoning the British Consulate every day who had advised them to register for email alerts.
“We even went to the Embassy in person [on Monday] and they wouldn’t even speak to us. It’s just shocking the lack of care.”
The Foreign Office (FCDO) has advised against all travel to Israel due to a “fast-moving situation that poses significant risks” which has “the potential to deteriorate further, quickly and without warning”.
Official advice also advises against all travel to Iran.
Tourists from other nations are also stranded. The BBC spoke to the Joyner family, from the US, on Sunday, who were among those wrangling with when and how to attempt to leave.
Poland has said it will begin evacuating around 200 of its citizens in the coming days.
On Monday, deputy foreign minister Henryka Moscicka-Dendys said those “stuck as tourists” would leave via Jordan’s capital Amman and then fly to Warsaw.
Meanwhile, the German foreign ministry has called on nationals in both Iran and Israel to enter their contact details in an online emergency system. About 4,000 have done so in Israel and about 1,000 in Iran. A spokesperson said there were no current evacuation plans from either country.
But other nations have evacuated its citizens – on Tuesday morning, a Czech government plane landed in Prague carrying 66 people from Israel, the defence minister confirmed.
Some 100,000 Israelis are estimated to be abroad and unable to return to Israel. Authorities have advised Israelis not to attempt land crossings due to security risks and await safer travel options.
