87 Hungarians stuck in Israel amid largest Hamas attack in decades

Israel Hungarians stuck at airport
Photo: MTI/EPA/Abir Szultan

Apart from the Hungarian minors Péter Szijjártó, Hungary’s foreign minister, talked about yesterday, 87 Hungarian Roma remained stuck in Tel Aviv’s Ben-Gurion International Airport. That comes after their flight back to Budapest was cancelled due to the brutal attack of Hamas yesterday morning. The Hungarian Roma are without money, but the Hungarian diplomacy said they could not give them any.

According to RTL Klub, a Hungarian commercial TV channel, there are more Hungarians stuck in Israel than Mr Szijjártó talked about yesterday evening. The President of the Roma Charity Organisation, György Rostás-Farkas Jr, told RTL Klub that 87 of a Roma tourist group remained stuck at the Ben-Gurion Airport due to the cancellation of their flight.

The tourist group travelled to Israel for a national celebration. Out of the original 120 members, 20-30 returned home, but the rest could not. Rostás-Farkas said he received several phone calls after the situation escalated because they could not even go to the streets. He contacted the Hungarian embassy in Tel Aviv and asked the diplomatic outlet to help the group return to Budapest.

Here is a photo taken at the Ben-Gurion airport during an air raid:

And a video:

Hungary cannot help with money

An official of the Hungarian consulate went to them and escorted the group with the help of the police to the airport. However, many people could not buy food and water because they ran out of money. Furthermore, some people cannot even buy new plane tickets. But the official said he could not help them financially.

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The official added he would try to find them accommodation. All are at the airport, but their evening flight will not take off. Therefore, many people got desperate. Rostás-Farkas said not only Roma but Hungarians were stuck in Israel.

According to RTL Klub, Attila Sztojka, the government commissioner for Roma relations, transferred money to help the people at the airport. Péter Szijjártó said the airport was not closed, but some airlines cancelled flights, so people need to be cautious.

We wrote HERE that Wizz Air, Hungary’s low-cost airline, suspended flights from Budapest and Debrecen to Tel Aviv yesterday because of the Hamas attack.

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