James Eden, 72, from Newcastle, flew to Israel last Monday for a six-day Christian pilgrimage. But he now finds himself trapped in a near-deserted city, with missiles flying overhead and outbound flights suspended. It comes as the Foreign Office advised against all travel to Israel, saying the situation could “deteriorate further, quickly and without warning”.
James said: “They [the FCDO] rang me and said there wasn’t a lot they could do. They can’t put on any planes because the airspace is shut – all they can do is send out alerts and keep track of us.” When the grandfather of four asked about crossing the border, officials told him he could travel to Egypt at his own risk.
The journey would mean a four-hour bus ride through the Negev Desert to Eilat, before crossing into Egypt and trying to fly home from Sharm El Sheikh. Temperatures in the region are expected to reach up to 35C this week.
“I’ve done that route before, 20 years ago, so I know it,” James said. “But once you step into Egypt, who knows what happens then? It’s a risk.” The retired accountant had been travelling with friend Miki Mogyorossy, 49, from London, and spent the early part of the trip visiting religious sites.
But on their third night, they were awoken by air raid sirens and were forced to shelter in a stairwell. Since then, he said, Jerusalem has felt “like a ghost town”. Now relocated to a hotel near the Old City walls, James said the British Embassy has kept in touch but can offer little more than updates.
“They said, ‘We’ve got your name, we know you’re there, keep us updated’. But there’s not much else,” he said. “I’ve got two weeks of medication with me. I was enjoying myself, but now I just want to go home.”