2 Canadian friends recount frantic scramble to leave Israel before airspace closed

Two Canadian friends who flew out of Tel Aviv before airspace closed Saturday recall a terrifying scramble at the airport amid sirens blaring and missiles in the sky above.

Dan Petrenko, the artistic director of the Winnipeg Jewish Theatre, and his friend Seth Zosky, an actor from Toronto, are finally on their way back to Canada after several flight cancellations out of Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion Airport last Saturday. 

"My friend and I were in the airport for hours trying to get on any flight we could get on, anywhere," Petrenko said. "We finally, late at night, were able to get on a flight to Athens and after that the airspace closed."

Major international air carriers suspended or scaled back flights to or from Tel Aviv last Saturday as war broke out between Israel and Hamas, the Palestinian militant group that holds power in the Gaza Strip.

Petrenko had been in Tel Aviv to meet with people in the city's theatre scene when Hamas militants began attacks on the country Saturday. The Israeli government declared war on Hamas, whose fighters have killed more than 1,200 Israelis and took scores of hostages since the weekend attack.

Israeli warplanes bombed Gaza repeatedly in response. Gaza's health ministry said at least 1,100 people had been killed and over 5,330 injured in the crowded coastal enclave since Saturday. 

Petrenko, 25, was born in nearby Givatayim, and frequently travels back to Israel for work each year. His family moved to Toronto in 2006 during the war with Lebanon. He's been living in Winnipeg for the past year. 

It was Zosky's first time in the country. 

The two were awoken by bomb sirens going off in Tel Aviv Saturday morning. Once they realized what was happening, they ran to safety.

"We immediately went to the bomb shelter and tried to stay safe," Zosky, 23, said. "It was scary."

The two decided to pack their bags and head to the airport as flight after flight got cancelled. As the day progressed, they said the airport got more chaotic. 

'I've never had to run for my life'

As they stood in line to check in, Zosky said sirens began blaring once again.

"Which was the scariest moment of my life when the bomb sirens went off while we were in the airport and I left my bag … all my belongings and I ran for my life as people were pushing each other over and trying to grab their loved ones, running," he said. "As that happened, a missile was shot out of the sky right above us."

Petrenko said hundreds of people were running to take shelter.

"[We] ran for our lives into the bomb shelters underneath Ben Gurion Airport," he said. "Definitely the most terrified I've ever been in my life. I've never had to run for my life, literally, before."

The two had secured flights to Toronto through London that would leave Wednesday evening. 

They made those arrangements the same day Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly announced military flights would begin to evacuate Canadians in Israel to Athens at the end of the week. 

Meanwhile, the Canadian government says it is working on a way to get Canadians who can't make it to Tel Aviv out of Gaza and the West Bank, possibly through Jordan.

More than 4,700 Canadian citizens and permanent residents in Israel, Gaza and the West Bank are registered with Ottawa. Around 700 people want to be evacuated, a senior Canadian official told reporters.

The Canadian Armed Forces are sending two planes to the region to evacuate Canadians from Israel to Athens, where Air Canada has a hub. Global Affairs is sending staff to Athens to help Canadians arriving on those flights.

The evacuation assistance will be open to Canadian citizens, their spouses and children, as well as Canadian permanent residents, their spouses and children.

Worried about others

While the two friends are safe and starting their trek back to Canada, they're worried about friends and family who are still in Israel, some who've gone missing.

"I attended elementary school partially in Israel when I lived there," Petrenko said. "A former classmate of mine has been missing since the conflict started."

Despite no longer being in Israel, Zosky said he is scared. 

"I have a cousin of a friend who is currently being held hostage in Gaza by Hamas terrorists and we don't know if he is going to make it out alive," Zosky said.

He was not comfortable sharing the man's name but said he has family in Toronto. 

"It's horrific. It should never happen to any human being … it's unimaginable."

Hamas militants said their invasion was retribution for worsening conditions for Palestinians living under Israeli occupation. In negotiations with Qatar, Egypt and the UN, Hamas has pushed for Israeli concessions that could loosen the 16-year blockade on the Gaza Strip and prevent a financial crisis from getting worse.

After declaring war on Sunday, Israel then vowed to cut off food, water, electricity and other supplies to the Gaza Strip in what would amount to a total siege of one of the most impoverished and densely populated territories in the world. 

Some 187,500 people have fled their homes in Gaza, a UN humanitarian office spokesperson said Monday. The Rafah crossing into Egypt, the sole pathway to leave the territory because the rest of Gaza is surrounded by Israel and the Mediterranean Sea, was closed Tuesday.

As Petrenko makes his way back to Winnipeg, he reflected on his theatre's new season which is set to start next month and a theme that he believes rings even more true now than before. 

"We're about to go into our 36th season starting next month and it's meant to be a season celebrating friendship … stories and plays all about friendship," he said.

"Friendship between different communities, between different people and I think that now more than ever those are the stories we need."