(WTRF) – The horrors occurring in Israel right now are difficult to watch thousands of miles away… now imagine being in the country when Hamas attacked… making history as one of the deadliest in the last 50 years.  

7News spoke with two Franciscan University students whose trip was cut short after Hamas attacked Israel.

Magdalena Kleb and William Clark are students at Franciscan University who take part in one of their study abroad programs.  

Their program is based in Austria and during their semester, they get two 10-day breaks.  

During one of their breaks, they decided to visit Israel to go on a pilgrimage mission saying they wanted to walk where Jesus walked within the Holy Land.  

During their time there, Hamas attacked Israel near the Gaza strip.

An attack that killed hundreds of Israelis and some Americans. 

Kleb and Clark say they were far away from any danger but share what it was like evacuating from the country.  

“As we were crossing into Jordan (because Jordan has an airport in Amman) it was a much safer bet for us to get out there than to go to the Tel Aviv airport, which would have been closer to danger. So, when we were finally in Jordan and I was kind of hearing about what was happening and the escalation, that’s when I more felt a little bit more scared. But I was already out of the country by then, so I wasn’t super worried.” 

Magdalena Kleb | Sophomore Nursing Major

“When I first heard of it, I recognized that, yes, this is something that was a bit of an escalation compared to the usual events of violence that sometimes happens within Israel. Something I knew was a potential thing that I could encounter while going into Israel, but I didn’t expect it to be this an attack to this scale to occur while it was there. I would say that throughout the entirety of it I had a rather sober awareness of the severity of the conflict.” 

William Clark | 5th Year Senior Biology Pre-Medicine

They both say their faith in God kept them strong throughout the whole experience.  

Clark said he felt there were many things out of his control, and that he never felt students were in immediate danger.  

7News Anchor/Reporter, Annalise Murphy, will have more details about their experiences in Israel on Thursday.

Stay with WTRF on the air and here on our website for those details.