\u201cSo we decided, you know what, we\u2019ve just been postponing this for so long, let\u2019s just go for it,\u201d Amstutz said.<\/p>\n
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A group of 30 people landed in Israel on Feb. 24 for an eight-day tour. On Feb. 28 \u2014 the same day the United States and Israel launched the attack on Iran <\/a>\u2014 Amstutz said their group arrived in Jerusalem.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe just landed going straight into bomb shelters versus touring the following day and seeing all the sites as we intended to see them,\u201d Amstutz said.<\/p>\n Amstutz said the bus the tour group was on stopped under bridges on the way to the city.<\/p>\n \u201cAs sirens were going off and missiles are flying overhead, our bus would pull on over with lots of other cars, and everyone just kind of shelters and hunkers down under a bridge,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n The U.S. and Israel have been bombing Iran for over a week<\/a>. Iran has retaliated with missile and drone strikes focused on Israeli and U.S. military bases across the Middle East<\/a>.<\/p>\n Sheltering in place became a common occurrence for the group \u2014 which included high school students all the way up to people in their 70s \u2014 over the next few days. During the first few days of the war, Amstutz said they sheltered in homes, businesses, underneath bridges, in stairwells and in underground bomb shelters every few hours during airstrikes. <\/p>\n \u201cWe just kind of did as the Israelis did,\u201d Amstutz said. \u201cWe would go out and we would go into the markets, and you\u2019d be with people, but then when the sirens would go off, you would literally just kind of find shelter with whoever was out there.\u201d<\/p>\n Amstutz said they had one close call. One night, a missile landed less than a mile from their hotel in Israel, killing five people, he said. <\/p>\n \u201cAnd then there was also you know shrapnel that would come down near us and we could feel the blasts of missiles getting shot down,\u201d Amstutz said.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s in those moments when these missiles are getting shot down overhead that you could literally feel the explosion of these things being shot down,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n Amstutz said he wanted to get everyone in the group back home to safety in Wisconsin as soon as possible after the war began. They contacted the United States Embassy and were originally told to shelter in place.\u00a0<\/p>\n But Amstutz said some tour groups were trying to get out of Israel through Egypt. After spending several hours on the phone, he said they were able to set up ground transportation to get the group into Jordan. <\/p>\n The group booked flights out of Jordan back home to the United States. Amstutz said most of the people on the plane were Americans. <\/p>\n \u201cThere was clapping, actually, when we took off,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cI think there was this big relief,\u201d he added. \u201cWhen we took off into the air, it\u2019s kind of like, I can\u2019t believe this is finally happening.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n The group arrived at Chicago\u2019s O\u2019Hare International Airport on Friday evening. A charter bus took them back to their church in Lake Geneva, where there was a crowd of people waiting for them when they arrived. <\/p>\n \u201cAs we drove into the church parking lot, almost like all the weight of the world just kind of rolled off your shoulders,\u201d Amstutz said. <\/p>\n 18-year-old was stranded in the UAE when bombing started<\/p>\n Santiago Muirhead, who graduated from Shorewood High School last year, has been taking a gap year in Paraguay while applying to colleges.\u00a0The 18-year-old recently travelled to Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates to tour the New York University campus there<\/a>. He said he arrived in that city just three days before the war with Iran began.<\/p>\n He had an interview scheduled on Feb. 28 with the university.\u00a0He and others were in a outdoor plaza shortly before that interview started. That\u2019s when he started hearing explosions.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cAs we looked up, the ground was shaking, and we could see puffs of smoke right above our heads as missiles were coming down and the UAE THAAD (Terminal High Altitude Area Defense)\u00a0system<\/a> was being activated, intercepting these missiles,\u201d Muirhead said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Muirhead said he and others quickly sheltered in the basement of a building.\u00a0 <\/p>\n \u201cI was ready for my interview, but the world had different plans, and all of the sudden I had missiles coming down right over our heads,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n Santiago\u2019s father, Pablo Muirhead, said his son contacted him shortly after the war began. <\/p>\n \u201cIt was jarring, but he reassured me that he was safe at the time,\u201d Pablo said. <\/p>\n![\"People](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/AP26059541141827-scaled.jpg\")
People take shelter in an underground metro station as air raid sirens warn of incoming strikes by Iran, in Ramat Gan, Israel, Saturday, Feb. 28, 2026. Oded Balilty\/AP Photo<\/p>\n![\"Teen](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/d7333ea7-c508-4621-a802-7cc616efd240.jpg\")
Santiago Muirhead graduated from Shorewood High School last year. Photo courtesy of Santiago Muirhead<\/p>\n