Their flight from Tel Aviv was cancelled four times, costing them a lot of nerves, money and sleepless nights, but that's all in the past, and now it's all about safety and peace.
At around 1 p.m. on Wednesday, the Skyllence plane of Avia Solutions Group, an aviation business owned by businessman Gediminas Žiemelis, finally landed at Vilnius Airport. 97 of our compatriots were on board.
In total, 141 people and two cats were on board. Among the passengers there are also Israeli citizens.
Lithuanian citizens have been stranded in Israel since the weekend due to a surprise attack by the terrorist group Hamas. Although the journey home was long and difficult, they were finally happy to reach their homeland.
However, even this flight had its problems. The plane was due to take off from Ben Gurion Airport at 1 a.m., but the process was delayed again, and the Lithuanians left Israel just before 6 a.m.
A group of relatives met them at Vilnius Airport when they arrived home. Some of them did not hide their tears; some of them were holding flowers in their hands. Most of them did not want to talk to the media and were hurrying to get some rest. Others said in a shaky voice that they would need the help of a psychologist.
„First, we need help from a psychologist,“ said Danielė, a returnee whose Israeli friends are missing and others are in hospitals.
„Now I feel fine on Lithuanian soil. I want someone to provide psychological help to our government“, said the woman, who did not want to identify herself.
Eglė, visiting Israel for tourism purposes, also sighed that she had finally reached home. She said that being in Israel these days was highly uncomfortable, although she did not feel much fear.
„Yes, we were definitely in limbo. Our return flight was cancelled, and it was tough. We waited, they postponed the flight, and it was the same again. No, we didn't feel much danger, it was just uncomfortable because the shops were closed and few people were on the streets. Thank God we are back in Lithuania“, she said.
A man on the same flight pointed out that there was a lot of fear about whether he could leave Israel if the airspace was closed: „It took a long time to leave. There were delays, delays, delays... We got tired of waiting. We are exhausted. We're tired of waiting.“
„We must have all felt abandoned. It was bad enough. We felt a bit uncomfortable when we called the Lithuanian Embassy in Israel on Sunday, and the answering machine always answered on the second day of the war.
They kept directing us to the consular section of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and from there, we heard: 'Take it easy; we'll do everything on Monday. You know that...“ – wondered passenger Rūta.
„We wrote to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, we called over the weekend, but there was no response. I give the Ministry a minus because their response should have been better. The plane, organised by the Jewish community, was somehow only found through acquaintances,“ said Edita, who was waiting for her returning aunt at the airport.
The pilgrims returning to Lithuania were more optimistic. A woman called Roma explained that prayers and songs helped them reach home.
„You have no idea what it is like when everyone sings together peacefully. Then there is such peace...“ – she smiled. Noting that the pilgrims welcomed the outbreak of the war, not even in Israel, but in the Palestinian territory, Roma assured that she had not seen any hostilities and that she had been in a reasonably safe area.
„The guide protected us, the leader and the pastor. I try not to think we might have lacked care from the Lithuanian authorities. I knew there were people in our group who cared. It was crucial to keep calm. Peace, faith, hope, light – that is what saves. You can panic very quickly,“ says Roma.
Teacher from Prienai said she realised how much she loved Lithuania and would only travel in its territory for a while.
„How does it feel? When you realise that you may be very close to the border and you might not be there the next moment... We heard gunshots all evening after returning to Bethlehem after the cancelled flight. The fighter jets were buzzing all the time, every night,“ said Nijolė, who also travelled with the pilgrims.
She said there were also families with small children on the plane that arrived in Lithuania, who thought that they might not have made it home if it had not been for this commercial flight. Those who had come were quick to criticise the country's Government.
„There are certainly others who need help to return home. When you are sitting in a hotel on a Sunday, and you see Poles being transported by the Government, military planes flying, the President's plane being sent, and they say that everything is fine (...) and we are sitting here, and we don't get information.
Of course, everything turned out well, and a decision was taken on Monday, but when you sit on a powder keg and don't get information, you don't know anything... I would have liked to see a bit more reaction,“ said Nijolė.
It was stated that this flight would cost the passengers a thousand euros each. The authorities say they will make a financial contribution to the loss.
„As far as we have been informed, on Monday, a government decision was taken that they will cover the costs with the airlines that operated this flight because some of the pilgrims do not have that kind of opportunity. There are elderly and retired people who have been saving for this trip all their lives,“ the woman said.
A second evacuation phase is currently being organised using a Spartan plane that landed in Turkey.
On the morning of 7 October, the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas launched an attack against Israel. The terrorists fired thousands of rockets into Israeli cities and invaded the country. Israel officially declared martial law.
