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A Belizean is in Israel tonight - but he's not trapped there. Eloy Young flew into Tel Aviv 8 days ago - after the war against Palestine started.
So who flies into a nation at war? Well, a man who's doing it for love. Jomarie Lanza has his story:
He's a tour guide, a dive master and a captain who met his future wife, an Israeli woman diving in Caye Caulker and ended up relocating to Tel Aviv, Israel.
Elroy Young, From Caye Caulker to Israel
"I met my wife in 2018 and so we did a bit of back and fort during COVID we decided it was a bit harsh on us. And so after when we couldn't see each other for a while, we decided to just come here and live here."
When the first attack on Israel happened on October 7th, Eloy Young was in Belize. He had come home to renew his passport, but he saw the violence and knew he had to go to the place he now calls home."
Elroy Young, From Caye Caulker to Israel
"When I was on Caye Caulker in the morning, I was looking at the whole thing live as it was happening and there is no way I would left my wife by herself in the house. My wife. She told me at the time. Why don't go? I don't me. Why don't I wait until everything calmed down?"
"But then I could think about is to reach back home to my wife."
He arrived in Israel four days later.
Elroy Young, From Caye Caulker to Israel
"And they arrived in Israel. I got off the plane for the first half hour and more or less I was on the train coming home because my wife, she went to go and meet me, which I knew this situation was already, but I didn't realize that as I get into the train, it was the less than 10 minutes."
"Everyone had to run out of the train going into the bunker because we had missiles coming over us and that keep on repeating over and over today on the 19th. I think if I'm not mistaken and I was at work today because I work in the marina in Israel, in Tel Aviv and about, I would say about 200 feet away from me."
"I saw a missile just came, boom, like literally 200 feet away from me. So, yeah, every time we there's a period of time like around seven, eight is when they start to fire a lot of missiles. And from work I could see all the rockets coming over and the Iron Dome intercepting them all the time. I hear the bombs."
"So you hear the bombs hitting. Hear the shake, you can't see it but you'll hear an impact. One, two, three. And that one. I couldn't find a bomb shelter at the time. There was no bomb shelter. I was on my way going home and there was there wasn't any shelter. So I stood beside a building and I look across and there was a police across the road that he couldn't get to a bomb shelter either and he told me, look up. And I look up. I saw the bomb is above my head. But what I did, I stood down. I put my hand over my head to try and cover my head so none of the shrapnel doesn't fall in my head. And then I did the video while on my way home. So yeah, that's how we've been living over here is a bit of a nightmare if you're not really used to like from coming from Belize into this."
And now he's in the middle of it. And while Israel is protected by the Iron Dome. Life in Tel Aviv is sustained stress.
Elroy Young, From Caye Caulker to Israel
"Is a bit stressful when you're trying to sleep at night because you don't want to be able to sleep soundly. And then you have an alarm go off because after the alarm go off after it started. You only have a minute and a half to seek shelter before the impact Actually, before bomb actually has impact."
But Young is still a Belizean in Israel and his country of origin stands with Palestine. He says he stays out of politics.
Elroy Young, From Caye Caulker to Israel
"People ask me this question, I told them I would tell them my country says one thing, but for me is completely different. I don't pick sides in no conflict."
We'll keep checking in on Young from time to time.
