Fernandina Beach church’s senior pastor describes group being stuck in Israel amid ongoing conflict

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A church group from Fernandina Beach is home safe after being stuck in Israel amid the ongoing war. The senior pastor spoke with Action News Jax and described the chaos he saw and the challenges of getting everybody back safely.

READ: Hamas attack: A historical timeline of conflict between Israel, Arabs

Senior Pastor Zach Terry says there were missile strikes close to where they were with one being roughly a half-mile from their hotel. While they didn’t see the carnage, they saw the chaos that unfolded around it all.

It was a 12-day trip turned into 16 for its members.

“It was a standard wonderful experience up until the 3rd day on the ground,” Terry said.

Terry, his wife, and 54 church members are home safe after being stuck in Israel amid the Israel-Hamas war. It was supposed to be an educational trip for its members.

After the conflict began, he says the group was most concerned in the mornings.

“It was freighting. To see how any human could do that to another human is just shocking,” he said.

READ: Fernandina Beach church group returns home from Israel after being stranded due to Hamas attacks

Terry says during one of the sights, things didn’t go as planned and instead of traveling by boat, they boarded a bus.

“We heard our first one coming into Jerusalem, we noticed people pulled over, ladies getting out of their car, ducking down and covering their heads. It didn’t occur to us what was going on,” he said. “We opened the door to the bus and we heard the sirens and we were like oh, there must be something in this region and sure enough within a 5-mile radius, two missiles hit.”

He took pictures of the landscape with smoke in the background and other photos of long lines at blood drives. They were in Jerusalem for 3 days while the war was going on and then tried to safely move everybody across the Jordan border, but countless others had the same idea.

“Our original flights were gone,” he said.

Pastor Terry said he thinks what Hamas has done is evil.

“It’s demonic. It’s brutal, it’s demonic, the things we’ve seen over there... I can’t imagine any human doing that do another person, family, or children,” Terry said.

He also provided insight into the situation.

“Everybody there knows, you may be Muslim that doesn’t mean you’re Hamas,” he said. “99 percent of the people we met over there were hospitable, they were warm, they were gracious, they were giving and that’s one of the main things I want to communicate to people back in the states, don’t let what this brutality is happening from this one group shape the way you view whole people.”

Pastor Terry says the church will meet Wednesday night to talk about this with other members, adding thinks it will be good for everyone to hear.READ: Hamas attack: A historical timeline of conflict between Israel, Arabs

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