Empathy and concern - this is what the actions of the Bulgarian state in the first ‎hours of the full-scale war that started in the state of Israel speak for. Bulgaria’s ‎Prime Minister Nikolay Denkov categorically condemned the terrorist attacks ‎of the Palestinian terrorist organization Hamas and the violence against ‎innocent Israeli citizens. "I express full solidarity with the Israeli people. My ‎thoughts are with the victims of these attacks. I condemn terrorism in all its ‎forms," wrote the Bulgarian Prime Minister.

• Bulgarians evacuated from Israel with a second flight
• There is no increased threat of terrorism in Bulgaria since the start of the war in Israel

The  Bulgarian cabinet prepared the evacuation of the Bulgarian nationals who ‎wished to leave Israel - the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign ‎Affairs Mariya Gabriel spoke with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Israel Eli ‎Cohen and the Bulgarian Ambassador to Israel in order to ensure the safe ‎movement of our compatriots to the Ben Gurion airport, from where two ‎government Airbus flights have been made so far. Over 150 Bulgarians ‎returned to Bulgaria with them, as well as citizens of other countries. Thus, ‎Bulgaria became the first country to organize a mission for the evacuation of its ‎own and foreign citizens from the State of Israel after the beginning of the war ‎with Hamas. ‎

Transport Minister Georgi Gvozdeikov has announced that the evacuations will ‎continue as long as there are Bulgarians who want to leave Israel. It also ‎became clear that, if possible, Bulgaria will respond to the stated desire of other ‎EU countries for Bulgaria to transport also their citizens. ‎

Due to the escalation of the conflict between Israel and Hamas, dozens of ‎international flights have been cancelled or delayed. "We want all Bulgarians to ‎know that the state takes care of them," said the Speaker of the Parliament, ‎Rosen Zhelyazkov, when welcoming the first group of evacuated Bulgarian ‎citizens.‎

Tears of joy, relief and gratitude for the evacuation - this is how people's ‎emotions can be described:‎

‎"I learned that all flights to Bulgaria were being cancelled and I contacted the ‎consulate to see if there was any solution. I've lived in Israel for 15 years, so ‎I'm not afraid of such things, but I really think this will be a little more ‎difficult," says our compatriot, who landed on Bulgarian soil with the ‎government plane.‎

Another Bulgarian who travelled to Israel for the purpose of tourism explained ‎to the BNR reporter Andrey Borisov:‎

‎"On Saturday, when the hostilities started, we contacted the consulate of the ‎Republic of Bulgaria in Israel, presented a list of our group, we kept in touch ‎constantly, we received assistance. We were in contact all the time, for which ‎we are very grateful to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the ambassador, the ‎consul. A very big role was also played by the presence of the transport ‎minister on the plane, which gave diplomatic status to the flight”.‎

‎"We feel very good, we are grateful to be back on our ‎beautiful land! We thank ‎the government, we thank our motherland for showing us great love and taking ‎us out of Israel”, says another elderly Bulgarian woman who travelled on a ‎pilgrimage to the Holy Sepulcher. “We were supposed to fly out yesterday, but ‎there were attacks, rockets and we we went down to the bunkers. We were very ‎worried, people are suffering a lot there. We pray for them and may God lead ‎them out of this war."‎

Many Bulgarians are cancelling their bookings for trips to Israel in the coming ‎days, with tour operators also cancelling trips pending the development of the ‎war, the website TravelNews.bg reported.‎

The tour guide and translator Teodora Asher personally participated in the ‎organization of the evacuation of a group of Bulgarian tourists from the ‎warring country. She told BNR that her son was on the battlefield. "Here we ‎are talking about a large-scale mobilization - regular army, reserve officers and ‎soldiers - all units of the Israeli army are mobilized, and the first and main ‎concern is to locate, release and return the hostages, who are civilians, whole ‎families, including many children," she says. ‎

‎"We must not allow chaos, violence and fear to overtake us", said Theodora ‎Asher from Israel categorically, and she thanked all those who called to be ‎interested in the current state of affairs through the air of the BNR.‎

‎"There is a feeling of empathy, solidarity, concern. Because from the earliest ‎times there is some moral code that applies even in times of war, and scenes of ‎captured, kidnapped, violated civilians automatically make one side the losing ‎side, even before they reach the final phase of the war," says Mrs. Asher. The ‎country where she lives and works is in a full-scale war for the first time in half ‎a century, the death toll since the start of the first shelling two days ago has ‎exceeded a thousand people.‎

‎"The situation is what it is and it demands from us both composure and ‎mobilization. In parallel, we are inundated with a flow of information from all ‎types of sources. We must focus on information that is verified and official. We ‎must not allow chaos, violence and fear to take us over. The sky over Israel is, ‎in a sense, quieting down. This stage where Israel is under fire is beginning to ‎subside. The hostilities are changing direction towards the northern border and ‎the Gaza Strip.''‎

However, Theodora Asher recalls that the Gaza Strip is a piece of land (36 km ‎north-south and 10 km east-west), on which live nearly 2 million people, a ‎large part of whom are also civilians. "We can only hope and pray that the ‎bloodshed will stop," she says with pain in her voice.‎

Text: Elena Karkalanova (based on interviews of Andrey Borissov and Lora Tarkoleva from BNR's Horizon channel)

Photos: BTA, BGNES, EPA/BGNES

Translated and published by Rositsa Petkova