NEWTON, MASS. (WHDH) - The ongoing conflict in the Middle East has stranded many in both Iran and Israel, including a Newton woman who had traveled overseas for a graduation ceremony.
Lauri Meizler traveled to Israel this month to attend her daughter’s college graduation. But days later, the Iran-Israel war broke out, and Meizler and her daughter found themselves hiding in a safe room.
“The whole building shook. We heard something like buildings collapsing, so it was terrorizing,” Meizler said.
Meizler used her cell phone to record apartment buildings destroyed by missiles.
“These are the apartment buildings hit next to my daughter’s apartment where we were,” she said in the video.
Her video shows the damage Iran missile strikes caused to apartments, stores, and restaurants in Tel Aviv.
“The windows were shattered, the doors were forced open, it was basically devastated so we were forced to evacuate,” Meizler said.
However, Ben Gurion International Airport is closed, along with the airspace around it. Meizler’s flight home was canceled and she was stranded in the country, looking for a way out.
“There were three buses of 180 people going to evacuate to Egypt. We had to meet there at 11:30 at night,” she said.
Meizler and her daughter boarded the bus, when sirens rang out — alerting of incoming air strikes.
“That was quite scary because you’re sitting on three buses, missiles tend to go off during the night, and we’re basically sitting ducks,” she said.
She said they managed to get out of the country.
“Driving through the night was just, you know, you’re already so tired and you’re even more exhausted. We weren’t stopping for food or drink or anything like that, just driving straight through,” Meizler said.
From Egypt, Meizler took a plane that was chartered to London, and she is scheduled to fly back to the United States with her daughter Monday.
She said she is leaving other relatives and friends behind in uncertain conditions.
“I guess that’s the ugliness of war, is you have to make decisions you never anticipate making and never will be comfortable to you,” Meizler said.
Not only are people stuck in Israel, but Israelis are stranded abroad. There is no timeline for Israel’s airport to reopen.
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