Group from Kent manage to escape Jerusalem during Israel-Hamas conflict

Susan Potter Clarke had been out there with her husband Carlos and daughter Savannah with five other friends. Credit: ITV News Meridian

A group of family friends from Medway who were on holiday in Jerusalem when militant group Hamas attacked Israel have managed to escape the city today (Friday 13 October).

Susan Potter Clarke had been out there with her husband Carlos and daughter Savannah with five other friends.

They were rushed to a bomb shelter and have been staying in a hostel since the fighting broke out.

Susan has epilepsy and says her medication is running out. It's been a struggle to get flights back to the UK however this afternoon the group reached Vienna.

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Susan Potter Clarke said: "It was quite scary actually, there were times when we thought we'd never get out because flights were just getting cancelled, and cancelled and cancelled.

"We've had to phone the embassy and MPs. Where we stayed was quite safe but we still had military and police up and down the area so we had to stay very close to where we were."

Hamas launched an incursion out of Gaza on Israel on Saturday morning with Israel retaliating with airstrikes on Gaza.

The death toll from the conflict has surpassed 2,800 people on both sides, with more than 1,500 Palestinians, and at least 1,300 Israelis killed.

A 24-hour evacuation order for 1.1 million people in north Gaza has been issued by Israel's military ahead of a possible ground invasion.

Susan Potter Clarke added: "That Saturday it happened, I thought it was just a practice run of fire alarms because we've never come across a bomb siren before."

She said people were banging on the door telling them to get out and into the bomb shelter.

The group, now in Vienna, will need to find a flight back to London.

An FCDO spokesperson told ITV Meridian it is working around the clock to support the most vulnerable and remain committed to assisting their safe passage out of the country.