'It's just uncertainty': Langley church group in Israel when war broke out uncertain how they will get home

A group from a B.C. church that was touring Israel when the war broke out remains uncertain how they will get home.

The 26 people, mostly from SouthRidge Fellowship Church in Langley, are supposed to fly out of Tel Aviv on an Air Canada flight Sunday.

Now they’re not sure what will happen.

“It seems to be a little bit crazy with Air Canada right now and we’re not sure even if they cancelled the flight if we will get our money back,’ said SouthRidge pastor Brent Chapman, who is part of the group.

“There’s a financial piece. There’s a safety piece, and it’s just the uncertainty. We just don’t know,” he said.

The group, which also includes travellers from Sardis Fellowship in Chilliwack, left Israel and crossed into Jordan Wednesday.

Chapman said a few people he’s with have decided they will not return to Israel, instead paying for costly new flights out of Jordan.

Ottawa has said it will begin to airlift Canadian citizens from Tel Aviv by the end of the week, but Chapman said even if they return, he’s not sure what that means for them.

“Even if the government does get planes on the ground, (it’s not clear) whether we would even qualify to be part of that list as we have left Israel,” he said.

The group arrived in Israel the day before the surprise attack by the Canadian-designated terrorist group Hamas.

When the war erupted, they were on a tour.

“Our tour guide was doing a great job explaining things and then we heard this loud boom,” he said.

Though some distance from where the violence erupted, Chapman said they soon learned what was happening.

“Our guide was telling us there’s been an attack on Gaza in southern Israel. You could tell he was shaken,” Chapman said.

The group eventually ended up moving to northern Israel.

Chapman said he never felt unsafe.

“We saw a lot of movement of troops and tanks being hauled around on semis, but the sites were open and we felt comfortable enough. We visited a number of sites in that area,” he said.

Chapman said at times, the situation has felt surreal. And while his group continues to deal with travel arrangements, his thoughts are with the people impacted by the war.

“When you’re watching the news, it’s so heartbreaking to see so many innocent people on both sides losing their lives,” he said.

“There’s a lot of families that are being torn apart because of this and that at the end of the day, the human cost is the saddest thing,” said Chapman.