Moberly church group stuck in Israel during attack back in America

MOBERLY, Mo. (KMIZ)

The Moberly church group that was stuck in Israel during the time of the Hamas militant attacks is now back in America.

Janet Daves told ABC 17 News on Wednesday that she and her husband, Jason Daves and the rest of a church group from Gospel Tabernacle, of Moberly, made it back to Moberly on Monday.

The group was stuck in Israel for several days, as multiple airlines canceled flights to the country after going to the country for a tour. Daves said he and the people they traveled with attempted to book a flight multiple times, but ran into trouble every time.

"We would get tickets here, they would get tickets there, and we thought we were doing good and then all of a sudden they were canceled and it was like on every airline," Jason Daves said.

After several attempts, he said they began to question if they would ever make it out. Especially, because they weren't sure of how bad attacks within the country could get. Looming thoughts of Iran becoming involved in the war also led them to believe things could escalate.

"When you're in it, it's just not the same and so you know it was at that time we were thinking well maybe," Jason said.

Jason said that he, his wife and the group traveled to Israel a few days before the initial attack occurred. He said they were at the beach when they heard the first explosion, but didn't immediately panic.

"We didn't really think anything of it," Jason said. "There were people out but it wasn't as many as the day before, but it was the sabbath."

During their time there, Jason said sirens would frequently go off, and they were forced to find shelter.

He described the shelter as a stairwell in the hotel where they were staying. He said they were told to stay in the area for at least five minutes, out of caution of debris falling from the sky.

Daves said they began to realize how bad things could possibly get after seeing the aftermath of a building that was hit by a rocket. He said the windows of the building were blown out, and described an eerie feeling seeing it after they had previously walked by it when it was still intact.

"It was kind of scary and you know to think we did go by one, there was only one place where we know that a rocket actually made it through and hit a building and it was about one mile from where we staying in the hotel," Daves said.

Jason said the group of about 18 other people they traveled with slowly left over the course of their time there.

The remaining people who hadn't secured a flight in their final days in Israel felt uneasy about leaving the country separately. But Jason said he began to think that finding tickets for less people would make it easier to book a flight. He suggested the group travel to the airport together and hope they could all find a flight.

"We finally went to the airport together and then as soon as we did that then everybody got a flight out together so we all got on the same plane," Jason said. "We all went to Greece together."

The group made it to Greece on Oct. 13 before getting back to the United States.

Three days later, Jason and his wife arrived in Moberly and were greeted by their daughters at the airport.

Jason said they're grateful to be back in the states, but feel for the people who are still unable to return home. He also said despite the experience, they don't fear taking a trip back.

"It's a beautiful place," he said. "We feel really bad for the people that are still there and we're home and we're safe, but there's still a lot of things, bad things going on over there."

Hamas militants launched an attack on Israel and the country declared war the weekend of Oct. 8. The Associated Press reported on Wednesday that there have been a combined 4,000 deaths on both sides. American citizens have died during the war, including a woman born in Boone County. Missouri's elected officials have expressed support for Israel. Vigils have been held in Columbia.