British man ‘will be stranded in Israel for weeks as there are no flights out’

A British man has said he will be stranded in Israel for weeks because of a lack of commercial flights out of the country to the UK.

Keith Ottaway, 46, originally planned to return to the UK on September 24 after visiting his partner in Israel, but successive flights were cancelled.

He said the next available ticket with Israeli flag carrier airline El Al is not until October 21.

Mr Ottaway, whose partner Odin lives in Ramat Gan, near Tel Aviv, said it is “very unsettling” and he wants to return earlier to see his two teenage daughters in the UK.

“I want to get back and see them. I’m in touch with them and they know I’m safe, but it’s a bit stressful.”

Mr Ottaway, who works for a local authority, said he understands why the UK Government is focusing its flight efforts on Beirut in Lebanon, as it is “under much more constant bombardment from Israel”.

Britons continued to fly from Lebanon on Thursday after more than 150 British nationals and dependents left Beirut on the first UK Government-chartered plane.

Mr Ottaway said: “But there are a lot of Brits in Israel and there are no flights out at the minute.

“They will say, ‘There are still commercial flights to be got on’, which is true. But I’m waiting three weeks.

“You don’t know what could happen in those three weeks.

“There’s a lot of people here that would be grateful if a flight was there tomorrow to get on, but I can’t see it happening.”

Mr Ottaway, who lives in south London, said the missiles from Iran that hit Israel on Tuesday night were “frightening and scary”.

He added: “We’re sitting on the sofa, just watching the news, and then suddenly our phones start vibrating and beeping, and this alert comes up in Hebrew on everyone’s phone.

“Certainly, I had not heard anything like that. It was so loud and you saw flashes.

“I think Israelis are so used to this kind of thing that everyone can go about their day, whereas I’m more like, ‘Wow, that was quite a crazy thing’.”