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“It’s maddening,” says Maya. She lives on a kibbutz ten kilometers north of Tel Aviv with her husband Dario, their toddler and seven other Swiss. “The FDFA recommends leaving Israel, but it doesn’t help at all.”

Maya and Dario actually wanted to go on holiday to Israel for two weeks and fly back to Switzerland next Sunday. You were invited to a family party. But the Hamas attack thwarted their plans. They want to go home as soon as possible.

They should not be alone in this. About 28,000 Swiss citizens live in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories.

Dario talks about the uncomfortable situation they find themselves in: “It keeps popping. There are constant shellings. However, we don’t know exactly what’s happening, which is quite worrying. In general it has become a bit quieter. Two days ago it sounded like a thunderstorm.”

They feel safe right now, Maya and Dario say. Still, they want to leave. But the country is like an island,” says the father of the family. “Syria and Lebanon are located in the north of Israel and the south is currently cordoned off.” There would be the possibility of traveling overland to Jordan. But Dario and Maya don’t want to do that to their child. The airway therefore continues to exist.

Uncertainty about special flight

However, air traffic to and from Israel is limited. Swiss has suspended its flights to Tel Aviv since Saturday evening.

On Sunday evening, Maya and Dario received a message from the Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs (EDA). On Monday at 8 a.m. it is possible to book seats for a Swiss flight, which will fly Swiss people home on Tuesday.

But the Swiss couple waited in vain for the announced flight on Monday morning. “Nothing has been posted,” Maya says, irritated. Daniel adds: “We called Swiss about it. She said she couldn’t say anything. She advised us to contact the EDA. The EDA in turn told us to contact Swiss. Like a dog biting its tail.”

“We continued to contact the EDA via email and telephone,” Dario said. The embassy in Tel Aviv then informed us that the special flight to Switzerland would be activated at 10am. But that didn’t work either.” Dario and Maya are appalled: “We feel very neglected by the EDA.”

Other countries are evacuating citizens

The Swiss couple is also annoyed that the repatriation seems to be successful in other countries. Romania flew 346 citizens home on Saturday evening, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced in Bucharest. Bulgaria also reported the repatriation of 92 people. Meanwhile, the Polish government sent three military planes to Israel and evacuated 268 people. The flights were announced by Andrzej Duda, the Polish president.

“That can’t be true, we feel like we’re in the wrong movie,” says Maya. “Why can’t Switzerland do this?” For Dario, it is mainly a “blatant communication error”. «No one takes control and makes clear announcements. They all point to someone else.”

Finally relief on Monday afternoon. The EDA contacts Dario and Maya again. There was a technical problem at Swiss, which made online booking not possible. The Swiss couple must call a hotline instead. After waiting in line for half an hour, we were able to get seats for the special flight on Tuesday. Flight LX7354 will depart Tel Aviv at 6:15 p.m.