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 told CTVNews.ca 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.
After days of pressure to arrange flights for Canadians who are stranded in the region, the federal government announced Tuesday evening that they will begin that process.
“We are planning to begin the assisted departure of Canadians from Tel Aviv in the coming days, with the help of an aircraft from the Canadian Armed Forces,” Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly said in a post on X, formerly Twitter, which was captioned, “My message to Canadians in Israel, West Bank and Gaza.”
“These flights will be available to Canadian citizens, their spouses, and their children; as well as Canadian Permanent Residents, their spouses and their children. We are also working on additional options for those who cannot reach the airport in Tel Aviv.”
Joly said that more details would be available on Wednesday, but that affected Canadians can start registering now with Global Affairs Canada.
