Calgary man and his family return to Canada after being stuck in Israel amid war

A Calgary man and his family who were unable to leave Israel in the early days of the Israel-Gaza war are now back in Canada.

David Wallach, his wife Zohar, their daughter and her boyfriend arrived in Tel Aviv just days before the Hamas terrorist group launched a surprise attack on Israel.

“We didn’t plan it. We planned a family trip,” Wallach said.

“Daily sirens, rocket attacks, they didn’t stop.”

They had two close encounters with rocket attacks. One just barely missed them on Wednesday in a hamlet north of Tel Aviv.

“We were sitting outside and all of a sudden, we heard this huge explosion and then we find out that it fell about 600 or 800 metres from us in a deserted field,” Wallach said.

“You hear the explosion, it’s scary, you have fear in you.”

Desperate to leave, Wallach and his family decided not to wait for rescue flights from the Canadian government.

Instead, they learned of a Toronto businessman who was chartering small planes to get people out of Israel.

They secured a spot on one them.

It took them from Haifa to Larnaca, Cyprus, and the rest was up to them.

David Wallach and his family board a small charter plane at Haifa Airport in Israel (Supplied).

Wallach’s daughter and her boyfriend went their own way to get back to Vancouver.

Meanwhile, Wallach, his wife and a family friend flew to Athens, then Rome and arrived in Calgary Saturday evening.

“It was a long journey, 23 hours, but we made it," he said.

The Wallachs got a warm welcome from friends in Calgary, who showed up at the airport with signs in hand.

While Wallach and his wife are happy to be back, they’re worried for their family and friends still in Israel.

“It’s bittersweet. Yeah, we are safe here, but we know that people we left behind are not so safe. And that’s kind of why we’re in touch daily or a few times a day with everyone to see that they are safe and they are healthy,” he said.

Wallach says he will continue to support his loved ones however he can from afar.

Global Affairs Canada says more than 1,000 people will have left Israel on Canadian evacuation flights by the end of Sunday.