Stranded in Cyprus and beyond, Israelis desperately seek way home

By Michele Kambas and Emily Rose

LARNACA, Cyprus/JERUSALEM (Reuters) -When his phone started pinging persistently at 4 a.m. on Friday, the chief rabbi of Cyprus learnt that war had broken out between Israel and Iran. By the time he got to his synagogue three hours later, the street outside was full of Israelis with suitcases.

Some had been on flights home that were diverted to Cyprus when Israeli airspace was abruptly closed. Others had been on holiday on the Mediterranean island and had been due to fly home that day, but were now stuck without accommodation.

"You feel their pain. They are walking, crying. They have urgent family needs, medical needs," the chief rabbi, Arie Zeev Raskin, told Reuters at his office in Larnaca.

Among them were people fearful of not making it home on time for their own weddings, he said.

Raskin has been trying to help the travellers, coordinating the search for hotel rooms and offers of hospitality from local Jewish and Cypriot families.

Some people have slept in the synagogue.

Worldwide, Israel's transport ministry estimates that more than 50,000 stranded Israelis are trying to come home.

There are no obvious routes. Israel's airspace remains closed to civil aviation, and the government has urged citizens not to return by land via Jordan or Egypt, for safety reasons.

Large numbers have converged on Cyprus, the European Union member state closest to Israel. Flights from the coastal city of Larnaca to Tel Aviv take 50 minutes, and boat crossings to the Israeli port city of Haifa take about 15 hours.

Laura Hoffman, a senior sales executive at a tech company, was flying back from a work trip to Dallas when her flight was diverted to New Jersey. She has three children and her husband was called up for military reserve duty.

She made her way to Cyprus, but after days of waiting in vain, she could bear it no longer. Ignoring the official advice, she flew to Jordan with a few others.

"I'm with mostly mamas and we're experiencing, I think, deep, primal moments of wanting to be united, literally at all costs, with our children," she told Reuters by telephone.

For now, the best hope for those stuck in Cyprus may be the sea route. The Crown Iris, a luxury cruise liner operated by the Israeli company Mano Maritime, will make two crossings to Haifa under a plan approved by the Israeli authorities, Mano said.

The ship can carry 2,000 passengers.

RESCUE FLIGHTS

However, such initiatives are nowhere near sufficient to meet demand. When the Israeli airline El Al opened a portal for passengers seeking to fly home, over 60,000 people immediately joined an electronic queue to register.

El Al said on Tuesday it had received permission from the government to start rescue flights on Wednesday from Larnaca, Athens, Rome, Milan and Paris. It said the flights were full and passengers with seats had been notified.

Israel's Transport Minister Miri Regev had said on Monday the government was working with the military and with airlines on a plan to bring everyone home safely in a phased, coordinated operation, but warned this would take time.

"I tell citizens: there is nothing to worry about. You are abroad, enjoy yourself. I know it is not easy," said Regev, in comments that drew blowback from some stranded travellers.

Zohar Bronfman, the CEO of tech company Pecan AI and a father of three, was returning from a business trip to San Francisco when his flight home was cancelled. He had travelled to Athens with colleagues equally desperate to go home.

"If she thinks we're enjoying our time abroad, then she doesn't really understand what we're going through," he told Reuters by telephone.

In Larnaca, the neighbourhood around the synagogue was unusually busy, with children playing, men praying and young people scrolling on their phones. Armed police were patrolling the area.

A pregnant woman who gave only her first name, Tamar, said she had slept in the synagogue.

"We are connecting to so many groups (on social media), but nobody knows when we are going to go back," she said. "I want to be back. I want to be with my family."

($1 = 0.8644 euros)

(Additional reporting by Steve Scheer in Israel and Yiannis Kourtoglou in Cyprus; Writing by Michele Kambas and Estelle Shirbon)