We narrowly avoided being attacked in Israel – Lagos pilgrims

Mrs Adebimpe Bada, a lawyer, told The PUNCH in an exclusive interview on Tuesday that they were in Israel when the fighting began, but they learned about attacks on areas they visited after they had left.

"We heard, I didn't see, we heard that a specific hotel from which we had just departed was attacked about two hours after we left."

"We visited several places; we were in Bethlehem, Jordan, and Nazareth, and we learned that the last place we left, just two or three hours after we left, was attacked."

"The locations we visited that were later attacked were attacked after we had left," Bada expressed gratitude to our correspondent.

In terms of how the pilgrims were informed of the clash, the lawyer stated that the Lagos State Christian Pilgrims Welfare Board, led by its Executive Secretary, Mrs Florence Gbafe, "managed the situation properly so much so that we didn't know what was going on on time."

Bada went on to say that the pilgrims noticed anxiety among Israelis and that "blood donation centers had already been established."

Another pilgrim, Mr. Emmanuel Bantale, stated he had a feeling there would be assaults because of the time they were in Israel.

"As a journalist, I've been following the conflict between Israel and Hamas for a long time. I've noticed that anytime there is a large feast in Israel, the Palestinians always want to attack.

"We went to Israel during the Feast of Tabernacles, which horrified me. "I told my partner that I was scared and that anything could happen, and we were already in Israel," Bantale explained.

He went on to say that they were on a bus heading to the Sea of Galilee "when I spotted a parachute a long distance away and I called the attention of others to it." I had no idea the Palestinians planned to attack Israel at that time.

"It was when we got back to our hotel, and I got to realise that the attacks were carried out by men using parachutes."

The 310-strong Lagos contingent returned to Nigeria on Tuesday, landing at Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Ikeja, Lagos, about 12.50 a.m.

According to The Economic Times, as the Israel-Hamas war enters its fourth day, Hamas targets the Israeli city of Ashkelon after urging inhabitants to leave.