The United Nations Security Council met Sunday after Palestinian Islamist group Hamas launched the biggest attack on Israel in years.
“They literally came and carnage our people in a magnitude that we have never experienced before. It’s like 9/11 and Pearl Harbor combined in Israeli terms,” said Itay Milner, spokesperson and consul for media affairs at the Consulate General of Israel in New York.
Milner told NY1 that New Yorkers with connections to Israel are trying to figure out how to help loved ones caught in the middle of the conflict.
“Some of them even got messages from people inside the zone where terrorists are right next to them sending text to their families ‘come and rescue us.’ And, you know, they come to us to try to get someone to go rescue them,” Milner said.
As the violence continues and people in the city are trying to get more information, the consulate general is working to help connect families.
“We at the consulates, we are trying to assist family members of our people who have relatives in Israel,” Milner continued. “We have a hotline that we opened and we are trying to connect between people here and people in Israel.”
The numbers and emails for the hotline to connect with the consulate are:
- 917-756-8387
- 212-499-5321
- 347-726-1490
- 347-673-9774
- Consular.services@newyork.mfa.gov.il
- Ny-cons-em@newyork.mfa.gov.il