Stranded travellers in Israel desperate to leave the country fear that “we will never be able to get out” and are commenting that “we are being failed by our embassies” as the evacuation plans of many travel companies are thwarted over safety fears, reports global emergency travel assistance platform Robin Assist.  

Since last Saturday, October 8th, Robin Assist has provided support to around 3,000 people – an unprecedented volume of requests compared to a normal period – stuck in Israel helping to arrange travel out of the country and medical assistance services on the ground.   

Robin Assist’s CEO, Sasha Gainullin comments: “I´ve worked in the emergency assistance and travel insurance space for the past 25 years, including supporting people stuck in war zones and natural disasters. I can honestly say that the situation in Israel is very similar to 9/11. This is because of the complex intricacies of security risks and the limited options available when arranging travel for thousands of people trying to get out of Israel.” 

Adding to the challenges that travellers are facing in trying to leave the country, the availability of flights has severely dropped with many airlines cancelling flights to and from Israel.

Meanwhile, those lucky enough to find a flight are finding that the only affordable options involve very long and indirect routes. For example, flights to New York, Chicago and San Francisco (based on flight comparison site Skyscanner at the time of writing – see below) are taking 31 hours,  24 hours and 32 hours respectively.