TYLER, Texas — Editor's Note: The above video aired earlier this week before Rabbi Neal Katz's daughter returned from Israel.
The daughter of East Texas Rabbi Neal Katz and her friend are back home safe after the Israel-Hamas War cut their high school program based in Israel short.
Katz, who leads Congregation Beth El in Tyler, on Monday said his 18-year-old daughter Rebecca and another congregation member were a part of a four-month fall semester high school program based just outside of Tel Aviv, Israel. They had just started the program in August and were supposed to come back in December.
That program had to be cut short as tensions and conflict rose after Hamas attacked Israel last Saturday, causing the deaths of more than 1,300 Israelis.
Katz told CBS19 Friday both of the girls took a charter flight arranged for the high school students to Europe a couple days ago and now all of the program students are back home in the United States and Canada.
Israel declared war against Hamas after the attack and since then, the Gaza Health Ministry said roughly 1,900 people have been killed in the territory with over half of them under the age of 18 or women, the Associated Press reported.
