Bombs heard as church group shelters inside Israel hotel

Natasha Hole said the Foreign Office should do more to help British citizens in Israel

The daughter of a British 71-year-old who has been stuck in Israel since the terrorist attacks at the weekend wants the government to do more to help him.

Jovan Jovanovic went out to visit Israel with a church group on 1 October and Natasha Hole said: "It just feels like they've been completely deserted."

She said when she complained, a Foreign Office call-handler put the phone down on her and called her "rude".

The Foreign Office said it does not comment on individual consular cases.

Mr Jovanovic, a retired kitchen fitter from Birmingham, has registered his details with the Foreign Office, but was just told to sit tight and try to get a flight home, Ms Hole said.

Because of the age of the people in the group, she said they did not have the "savvyness" to arrange that for themselves and she has been trying to book a flight for him.

She hopes he will be able to fly home via Turkey on Wednesday.

Most of the group are of Serbian descent and she said the Serbian Embassy has been a lot more help than the British one.

In the meantime she said she was not really sleeping and "constantly watching" the news, while her father told her about explosions which he could hear from his hotel.

The group were in the region visiting holy sites

The members of Birmingham's Serbian Orthodox Church of the Holy Prince Lazar had been on a trip to visit holy sites.

They were in Bethlehem in the occupied West Bank on Saturday during the Hamas attack on Israel.

They made the five mile journey to Jerusalem by travelling in a convoy.

Father Nenad Popovic, 44, said there were 40 people on the trip, about 30 of whom were British citizens.

"We can hear horns here and a lot of detonations, bombs sometimes," Mr Popovic told PA Media.

"We have children here, we have old people that need [medication] because we didn't plan to stay in Israel."

About 30 members of the group are British citizens

A lot of airlines have cancelled flights to Israel or warned of travel disruption as the security situation deteriorates.

Mother-of-six Ljiljana Stojsavljevic, 54, from London, said on Monday evening they had had no contact from the government since informing them of their whereabouts.

"We're a bit stressed out, there seems to be no boost from the British government for the citizens who are stuck here," she said.

She added that it's "impossible" to find a flight out of Israel.

"It's not pleasant, but we're trying to keep the spirits up and stay positive - for how long, we're not sure.

"I've got six children waiting for me to come back - I don't want them to worry, so I don't tell them anything that's serious."

The group, pictured before the attacks, arrived in the area on 1 October

A Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) spokesperson confirmed it is in contact with several individuals in Israel.

"The safety of all British nationals continues to be our utmost priority and we urge everyone to continue to follow our travel advice, which is updated regularly," it said.