Windsorite stuck in Israel amid the escalating conflict between Israel and Iran

A Windsorite stuck in Israel amid tensions with Iran shares his experiences with CTV News Windsor.

A Windsorite says he is trapped in Isreal amid the Isreal Iran conflict.

21-year-old Panos Mavridis is the owner and operator of PuckEmpire, a popular hockey themed Instagram account.

He left for Israel on June 3 to work with the hockey team he owns there.

Global Affairs Canada is warning against all travel to Iran, Israel, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip and advising Canadians in the Middle East to monitor the news and follow the instructions of local authorities.

Missile attacks between the two countries has intensified in recent days with El Al Airlines, Israel’s flag carrier, grounding all departing passenger flights through June 23.

Mavridis told AM800’s Mornings with Mike and Meg that he’s currently based in Tel Aviv.

“It’s hard because you can’t go far into the city, we can’t really go anywhere because the second we hear the sirens we’ve got to make our way to a shelter, and we’ve got a shelter right by the apartment we’re staying in, so basically we’re just sitting around the apartment all day hoping and waiting for whatever is going to happen,” Mavridis said.

Mavridis says all he can think about is getting back to his parents, brother and girlfriend in Windsor.

“I’m not really thinking about my safety right now, I just want to get back home because we don’t know when we’re going to get back,” he said.

Mavridis says he’s tried to contact the Canadian embassy without success.

“We’ve message them a few times now, emailed them, tried to call them, so my friend here is another Canadian, and we messaged them and they basically said at the end of their message, they sent a long message of like all this stuff, they have no plans, and they said do not rely on Canada to help you get out of Israel,” said Mavridis.

Mavridis says his family has reached out to Windsor-Tecumseh Conservative MP Kathy Borrelli but have not yet heard back.

AM800 News has also reached out to Borrelli.

There are approximately 3,500 Canadians in Iran and another 6,700 in Israel amid an escalating conflict between the two countries, Global Affairs Canada says.

The count is based on the voluntary registration of around 80,000 Canadians in the Middle East and doesn’t fully reflect how many of them may need help getting out of the region, the department said in a statement.

-By AM800’s Dustin Coffman, with files from CTVNews.ca and Reuters