Kerala pilgrims return after navigating Israeli conflict, laud Indian Embassy for timely intervention

PTI, Oct 12, 2023, 5:04 PM IST

A group of pilgrims who were in Israel on October 7 when the militant group Hamas began attacking the towns on the country’s border with its occupied region of Gaza have returned safely to India and thanked the Indian embassy for its prompt intervention in helping them escape the war zone.

Amidst a multi-front onslaught by Hamas, their timely return to Kerala was made possible through the swift and effective intervention of Indian Embassy officials, a pilgrim who identified himself as Moulavi told a Malayalam news channel here on Thursday.

“If our return journey was postponed even for one more day, we would have been trapped in the war zone… Anyway, we are home now,” the relieved Keralite pilgrim, who returned from Israel escaping from the conflict there, said with a smile.

An Aluva native, Moulavi and his wife were part of a 45-member group from Kerala who had gone to Israel on pilgrimage.

The group of pilgrims reached the international airport here by Thursday morning.

Moulavi and his wife said they did not initially understand the seriousness of the situation, but fear and anxiety gripped them after they heard the sounds of missiles and seeing the tense atmosphere around them.

The middle-aged man said the return journey was scheduled for October 7, and everyone in the group was happy and excited to go back home after the tour. “Then, suddenly, we received information about the Hamas attack… Though we started the journey, we had to stop midway and stay at the same place for the whole day. Those hours were those of fear and uncertainty,” he recalled.

The thought that they were getting isolated in a foreign country and no one could do anything immediately for their rescue had made all of them tense, he said.

“But, we could restart our journey the next morning itself. Our group could enter Egypt via the Taba border. We were just relieved when we crossed the borders of Israel,” Moulavi said.

When asked whether they were witnesses to any war horrors in the West Asian country, he said they could see missile strikes even if they were happening kilometres away and experienced their terrible sound.

Moulavi expressed heartfelt gratitude to all who supported and prayed for their safe return. He singled out the Indian Embassy officials, whose prompt response in the wake of the conflict was instrumental in their eventual return, saying, “they rushed to our hotel within hours after the war broke out.” In the ongoing conflict between Hamas and Israeli defence forces, hundreds have tragically lost their lives since the attacks on Saturday.