Several Romanians are still in Israel. A group of 56 pilgrims from Maramureș and Cluj, some of them outside Romania for the first time, are waiting to leave on a flight on Sunday afternoon. Priest Mircea Lung, who was with them, told Digi24 on Sunday morning what they went through since the war between Israelis and Palestinians broke out. He says he has seen footage of dead people on the highway, armed soldiers, security filters, barricades, and being controlled in some places by the Israeli army. The group was staying in Palestine but were moved to a hotel in Jerusalem.
“I arrived at the hotel yesterday afternoon, around 16:00, since then I haven’t left the hotel. In the night we heard some more suspicious sounds, but we think it was from motorcycles, we hope it was from motorcycles. There is a wedding on an upper floor of the hotel. There people seemed not to be very affected by this situation, but in the end we, who came from Romania to the Holy Land, are somewhat affected. Most of the pilgrims who are with us are leaving the country for the first time, when they come here, and they have never faced anything like this before.
The army is on the streets, armed soldiers, filters, shooting preparations. Concrete barricades were placed at the crossing points and sandbags were placed on top. It’s like war.
So far we haven’t had any problems, we managed to get to the hotel in Jerusalem. We hope to return home today. Even if we don’t land in Cluj-Napoca and land in another part of the country, it wouldn’t be a problem, just to get out of here, we want to see our families.
We have information that at 16:30 there will be an aircraft to Romania. Anyway, our accommodation ends at 12:00 and we leave the hotel, because most of the pilgrims, being the last day of the pilgrimage, had no more money and could not stay for more days.
We have been in permanent contact with the embassy and they have warm information for us, as they also received”, said priest Mircea Lung.
He also said that the bus driver “who brought us to the hotel yesterday, showed us all kinds of images on the way that are difficult to talk about or look at”
“What’s on TV is a small part. Simply, people pierced on the highway, on the street. I saw a minibus of 8 people where everyone who was there was pierced and they just stayed dead in the minibus. He looked surprised and was restless. And we found this out around 09:00 yesterday, being at the Romanian settlement in Jericho. After we got out of there, we received the information that we should immediately return to the hotel. The hotel is located in Palestine.
We entered Palestine with great difficulty, there were fenced gates and the army was at the entrance and did not let us. At one of them they didn’t manage to close it, because it was a matter of maybe 5-10 minutes in which they closed this gate. We managed to get into the hotel, and when we came back, they didn’t want to let us out. But we told them that we had a flight to the country and they let us go.
All the cars, searched, the people, searched and we arrived in the Jerusalem area. There is an area near our hotel where the police have barricaded the whole area. Several streets were blocked off, cars stopped and people being searched, pinned to the wall and directed by the army.
All 56 people in our group are from Maramureș and Cluj and are panicking. In the morning, at 05:00, someone came to the room to ask us about the situation. The parent I’m with I think got two hours of sleep tonight, hoping maybe we can get out of here sooner or there’s a plane coming or something. The bags are packed, let’s just go. The father slept dressed…when he calls us, let’s go.
After leaving Jericho, we received information about what was happening and we were to reach the Jordan River. We passed by part of the river and they were wondering why we didn’t go in. After half an hour we still received calls from the country and we had to tell them that it was an armed conflict. After seeing the situation on the highway, they realized.
They are 70-year-old women. We were scared, but the people at the embassy reassured us and told us that they are doing everything they can to return home. When I arrived in Palestine, a group of Romanians were staying at the hotel. They didn’t know what happened and I didn’t tell them either, because they quickly took our luggage from the room so we could go out.
We met with many groups of Romanians who are in the Holy Land this week.
His Holiness Iustin, the Bishop of Maramureș and Sătmar, was in permanent contact with us and did everything he could so that we could get home”.
Romanians stuck in Israel
Four aircraft full of Romanians from Israel landed tonight at Henri Coandă Airport, with 346 Romanian and foreign citizens. People have been desperately waiting for help to escape the inferno caused by Hamas bombings. Around 800 Romanian pilgrims were in Israel when the attack broke out and many flights were cancelled. Romania sent special aircraft to bring them home. In the meantime, Romanian officials announced that they are looking for solutions to bring Romanians into the country urgently. And the MAE recommends everyone to stay sheltered and listen to the Israeli authorities.
The fighting in Israel was even caught by a Romanian woman, who was stuck in the building where she was staying. He put his fear aside and approached the window to film the attackers firing unhindered through the streets. The woman was on pilgrimage when the Hamas group hit several cities with thousands of rockets.
Other Romanians, however, were stuck in Tel Aviv airport after their flights home were cancelled. These are difficult hours of fear and tension, especially for those who could not afford to buy tickets for other flights and are eagerly awaiting the rescheduling of low cost flights.
-„Unfortunately, all low cost flights have been cancelled. Only the liners are left, a few of them are still flying. There are dozens of Romanians waiting at the airport to fly. There are tens or hundreds of others who have already left because their flights were canceled and they did not have the financial means to buy other tickets with other companies”.
Priest Valeriu Mircea Van: “Unfortunately, we still have accommodation until tomorrow. We are asking from the bottom of our hearts all the authorities, whatever they may be, to help us return home. We wish with all our hearts to return home, each to our homes”.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs advised them to take shelter and listen to all instructions from the authorities in Israel.
Radu Filip, spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs: “Those who are transiting or intending to travel to Israel, we recommend them to reevaluate their decision to travel and those who are already in the territory of this state to strictly follow the instructions of the local authorities, to take shelter in buildings and when the situation requires it, to leave the country”.
The Romanians settled in Israel also experience an ordeal. A doctor told how he ran scared to the shelter when he heard the sirens. He was among the lucky ones, because he knows how many children with their mothers were killed in cold blood.
Romanians who are in the territory of this state can contact the Embassy of Romania in Tel Aviv by e-mail or at the number available 24/7.
Editor: Alexandru Costea
2023-10-09 08:35:36
#Testimony #Romanian #priest #Israel #people #beaten #highway #Whats #small #part
