Families struggling to arrange flights both to and from Israel amid war
HOBOKEN, N.J. -- It's been a difficult week for families trying to arrange flights both to and from Israel.
A trip to the United States was a bat mitzvah gift for 12-year-old Lotem Einav-Levi from Israel. She landed here in late September. Her stay is now extended because of the unthinkable situation back home. Her family is safe, though, and she's ready to get back to them.
"I wanna go there ... I don't care if it's unsafe," Lotem said.
"You want to be back home?" CBS New York's Kristie Keleshian asked.
"Yeah," Lotem said.
Her family's in Herzliya, near Tel Aviv. To fly back home, she's had to deal with cancellations, higher ticket prices and limited seats, but she's determined and now has a flight booked for early next week.
"I understand that she wants to be there," said Sue Grass, the family friend Lotem is visiting in Hoboken.
The decision to fly back wasn't an easy one.
"I'm scared. It's not my decision though. This was a decision made by her mother, her stepfather, her two grandmothers in Israel. Everyone was a part of that," Grass said.
"I want to come home to see my family, see my friends ... and to volunteer, if there's still something," Lotem said.
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Jerusalem is being described as a ghost town by Sandra and Joseph Greenberg from North Jersey, who are in Israel and now on an extended trip after arriving in late September for the Sukkot holiday.
"I think we're on our third cancellation at this point," Joseph Greenberg said.
He says flights back to the U.S. are nearly impossible to get, though they managed to book a 36-hour flight home this weekend. The Israeli state sent them an advisory, saying the U.S. government is facilitating transportation for U.S. citizens.
The Greenbergs have two sons still in Israel and a son and daughter in the U.S.
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"Our lives at this point, jobs, whatever, are in the United States. Life has to go on to the extent possible," Joseph Greenberg said.
The struggle to get home, wherever it may be, are expected to only worsen as attacks on both sides continue.