TEANECK, New Jersey (WABC) — A couple from Teaneck, New Jersey, is among those trying to get home after the war with Iran has caused at least 19,000 flight cancellations in and out of the Middle East since it began.
Joshua Lipowsky and Stephanie Hausner are describing their harrowing experience seeking shelter in an Israeli bomb shelter while they try to get home.
They were planning to leave before the war began, but then Lipowsky decided to stay a few more days to run the Tel Aviv Marathon.
“Josh ran the marathon on Friday, while he was running the marathon, I saw the alert from the embassy that if people wanted to get out, they should get out now,” Hausner said. “But he was in the middle of the marathon, so that wasn’t so realistic.”
As the situation intensified, the Teaneck couple thought they still had time to fly home.
“Secretary Rubio was scheduled to come here on Monday to have discussions with Prime Minister Netanyahu, so we assumed, and we assumed wrong, that that would give us a little bit of a cushion, and that nothing would happen before they had those talks,” Lipowsky said.
The couple now believes those talks were just a cover for the planned strike by Israel and the U.S. Since then, they have stayed in and close to their hotel.
“Throughout most of the day on Saturday, we were in and out of the bomb shelter,” Hausner said. “Saturday night we got an email from El-Al telling us that we wouldn’t be flying on Saturday night, which we knew because the airspace was closed.”
They have gotten word that limited flights could resume Wednesday. They say driving to Egypt is not a good option.
Meanwhile, they are trying to remain calm.
“My cousin actually lives about a mile from where we’re staying, and he just sent me a video from his shelter, in his apartment building, somebody was getting married there,” Lipowsky said.
Another resilient Teaneck resident is Ziggy Katz, who has been studying in Israel. He was less than two miles away from the missile attack on a home in Beit Shemesh.
“These were innocent, you know, sweet kids that were killed in the house right next to us… right around the corner from us,” Katz said. “So that that shook us up a little bit, as you can imagine.”
Meanwhile, Oliver Sims has been trying to get back home after traveling to India for a wedding, but got stuck on a layover in Qatar, which has been targeted by Iranian missiles.
Anthony Carlo has more on the Americans stranded in the middle of a war in the Middle East.
“My biggest concern would just be like, how do I get out safely?” he said in an interview with ABC News Live.
The secretary of state is urging stranded Americans to call a hotline for overseas citizen services. Earlier on Tuesday, a recorded message stated that people should not rely on the government for assisted evacuation. That message has since changed, warning of long wait times for assistance because of high call volume.
Democratic Senator Andy Kim blasted the Trump administration.
“Warnings to citizens to evacuate three days into this war, when airspace is closed, is a clear sign of zero strategy and planning by the Trump admin,” he said.
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