Israel-Hamas war: New Zealand church group makes it home thanks to Tongan Government
A New Zealand church group have made it home safely on a flight chartered by the Tongan Government. A church group from Tongan-Kiwis, around 40 members of the Connection City Church Assemblies of God, who were attempting to flee war-ravaged Israel, has returned to New Zealand. The group landed in Auckland on Thursday evening after a 10-day tour of Israel turned into uncertainty due to the anticipated ground offensive from Israel. The Tongan Government chartered a flight chartered by the Tongan government to fly the group safely to London. The initial attack by Hamas militants killed hundreds and injured thousands. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs decided to charter a flight to get the group home safely.
Опубликовано : 2 года назад от Melanie Earley в Travel Politics
The warning from Israel to leave Gaza comes ahead of an anticipated ground offensive.
A church group of Tongan-Kiwis, who found themselves trying to flee war-ravaged Israel, have made it back safely to New Zealand.
Around 40 members of the Connection City Church Assemblies of God landed in Auckland on Thursday evening after what was meant to be a 10-day tour of Israel turned into weeks of uncertainty as war broke out.
Adrienne Apikotoa, one of the women in the group, said there had been several cancelled charter flights in the past week due to “safety reasons”.
After the initial attack by Hamas militants, which killed hundreds and injured thousands, Apikotoa said the flight they had been due to go home on, via Turkish Airlines, was cancelled.
During the uncertainty around how the group would get home, Apikotoa said the Tongan consulate based in London, Major Kiu Kaho, travelled to Israel to help them.
”We would meet three times a day as a group to discuss where the situation was at and we would get information on the status of a flight out of Israel.”
For a few days, Apikotoa said the group were told to stay in their hotel and have everything packed so they could be ready to leave at any time.
Eventually, the group managed to get to London thanks to a flight chartered by the Tongan Government.
From there, the group was flown to China and, after an eight-hour layover, they were flown back to Auckland.
Tonga’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said after careful consideration of the circumstances in Israel, it decided it needed to charter a flight to get all Tongan nationals home safely.
Темы: Israel, New Zealand