'It's a scary time to be here right now': Americans stuck in Israel are desperate to get out
Karen and Omri Mamon, dual American-Israeli citizens, traveled to Israel last month to attend the wedding of Omri's sister. They didn't know they would end up spending their holiday moving from one house to another, searching for shelter.
A week after the wedding, Israel launched its surprise attack on Iran, and missiles began flying over the skies, forcing both airspaces to shut down. Most flights out of Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion Airport were canceled, leaving many stranded and unable to get home.
'The first night, we went down to the shelter three times, and since then, we're just jumping between houses trying to find safe rooms. We've been trying to find a way out of Israel back home to Florida since then,' Omri Mamon told CNN.
Mamon said they've lived in Israel before and experienced having to shelter, 'but this time is different.'
'The bombs are bigger, the noises are extremely high … you hear bombs everywhere,' he added.
Dozens of Americans who have been trying to leave Israel gathered at a hotel in central Israel on Saturday, where US embassy consular staff began processing their departures.
Earlier in the week, US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee announced on social media that the embassy was arranging evacuation flights and ships for American citizens who wished to leave. Huckabee did not say when the evacuation efforts would begin.
According to US State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce, more than 25,000 people have sought information from the State Department about the 'situation in Israel, the West Bank and Iran.' There are about 700,000 Americans living in Israel, according to Huckabee.
Several Americans at the hotel told CNN that the embassy had organized flights to Athens, and from there, they would be able to catch flights back to the US. It was unclear, though, when those flights would be scheduled.
The Mamons were on the list to go, but others, like Elana Hayman, are still waiting to be processed.
Hayman traveled to Israel with her family from Los Angeles at the beginning of June for a holiday. An Iranian missile struck a building right next to the apartment they were staying at in Tel Aviv. Apart from experiencing an earthquake, Hayman told CNN she had never felt such strong shockwaves before.
'It was so intense that I thought it hit our building. It shook us to the core. … I actually hear the sound every night. When I think about it, I can hear it over and over again,' she said.
Her 18-year-old daughter Noa, who has anxiety, said it was a terrifying experience.
'It was really bad. I was really scared. I just wanted to find any way to leave. … It's a scary time to be here right now,' she said.
As the evacuation process progresses slowly, Hayman — like many others — are still trying to find a way out of Israel. The US embassy said in a security alert last week that the land crossings from Israel to Jordan and Egypt are options but acknowledged that each comes with its own risks. Jordanian airspace has closed sporadically since the conflict began, and the US cannot offer emergency services to American citizens traveling through the Sinai Peninsula to catch international flights out of Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt.
Some of those waiting at the hotel, who did not wish to be named, told CNN around 30 Americans were there for three hours to get processed but were told to come back another day because the priority was for the elderly, sick and families with children.
The Mamons suspect they were processed so quickly because their son has autism.
'The main thing was to bring him back home; he was our priority. … He had a really rough time here with the sirens, noises, the shelters, and lots of people shouting,' Karen Mamon said.
Despite feeling relieved to have been processed, Omri Mamon still says 'anything could happen.'
'We're not celebrating yet,' he said.
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