Jerusalem – An emergency flight that Israelis worn abroad because of the fighting with Iran landed in Tel Aviv on Wednesday morning, part of a special government operation to get them at home.
About 100,000 to 150,000 Israelis were abroad when the Israel defense forces started beating Iran at night on Thursday – in search of the nuclear program of the Islamic Republic and the cache of conventional weapons.
Israel immediately closed his airspace and stopped all flights to the country, but some people have been so desperate to come home – despite the fullys of deadly ballistic rockets that have caused widespread damage and fatalities – that they have found some unconventional routes.
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The first flight of operation “Safe Return” landed at Ben Gurion airport in Israel on June 18, 2025. The operation, led by the Ministry of Transport and Road Safety together with the Israeli Airports Authority and the Israel Air Force, was designed to stay home for being forced to go abroad. (Israel Airport Authority/TPS-IL)
Yaakov Katz, an author and former editor -in -chief of the Jerusalem Post, had his flight from the US to Cyprus on Thursday evening when Israel launched his opening attack on Iran.
In a long -term social media report, he described two days before he found a tugboat to bring him and eight others back to Israel.
“Nine of the US squeezed a fight against a ship fighting by Eli, an experienced Israeli sailor who did not ask any questions – just took the steering wheel,” he wrote in the post.
Yaakov Katz got into a tugboat in Cyprus to get home at Israel in the midst of war with Iran. (Yaakov Katz)
“I can’t say that it was the best conditions, but it was certainly 17 hours executable,” he described, adding that he wanted to be with his wife and four children while “our country is at war.”
“The thought of not being home and not being with my family was very difficult, and despite the risks and, of course, the war itself, there is no place that I think an Israelis would like to be right now,” Katz said.
Shimi Grossman, a volunteer at Rescue Agency Zaka, also said he couldn’t wait.
“I had to come back so that I could help people in Israel,” said the medical volunteer.
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Israel launched his first rescue flights for Israelis who were stranded abroad during Israel’s war with Iran. (Fabrizio Gandolfo/Sopa images/Lighttrocket via Getty images)
Others have waited dozens, watching while the rockets touch the country, send civilians to hiding places, overthrow buildings and kill more than 20 people.
On Tuesday a rocket hit a bus depot in less than a mile from his house. “Looking at a ballistic rocket, the size of a bus that falls near your house where you know that your wife and small children are, it’s incredibly difficult,” he said.
Minister of Transport Miri Regev said that the government was working on a detailed plan to bring all Israel citizens.
Domestic airlines, she said, had already moved abroad and waited for an all-them to return with passengers. Regev also said that a “maritime route” from Cyprus and Greece would soon open. Israelis have been warned of travel through neighboring Egypt and Jordan.
The rescue flights arrived too late for Uzi Sofer. During a business trip to Boston last week, he returned on Wednesday to celebrate his daughter’s wedding.
Israel’s air defense focuses on Iranian missiles in the air of Tel Aviv in Israel, on 16 June 2025. (Matan Golan/Midden -Sosten images/AFP via Getty images)
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“I had to fly back for the wedding this Friday,” he said, and described how he succeeded in achieving Budapest, Hungary, but now waited for a rescue flight.
Realizing her father would not come back in time, but his daughter decided to postpone her marriage shields until next month.
“I am not stressed now, but I still want to be in Israel, I want to be with my family,” he said, adding it, “Preparing God, I will celebrate twice in July – the wedding and the victory of Israel over Iran.”
