Aussie actor Hugh Sheridan’s escapes from Israel conflict as Hamas attacked

Logie winner Hugh Sheridan has detailed the harrowing moment he hid in the stairwell of his shaking hotel as Israel came under attack: ‘Those terrorists look scary’.

Australian actor Hugh Sheridan, right, flees Israel on a flight to Athens. Picture: Instagram

Australian actor Hugh Sheridan has described the harrowing moment he hid in the stairwell of his shaking hotel as Israel came under attack by Hamas, revealing he later escaped Tel-Aviv by securing one of the last tickets on a flight to Athens.

Sheridan, 38, who was travelling in Israel on holiday with friends spoke to The Australian from the safety of Greece, describing how his Saturday morning began “completely normal” following a fun night out with friends, before the state was bombarded by more than 5,000 rockets in 20 minutes during a co-ordinated land, air and sea invasion by Palestinian militants from Gaza.

“It was just out of nowhere, everything was just completely normal, and then suddenly, it was just totally not,” Sheridan said.

“For a country that seems very well put together, just like Australia — it just felt like Sydney — and (to) see that change so quickly and everyone’s lives destroyed is completely shocking.”

Oblivious to what was unfolding at the start of the attack, Sheridan was first suspicious that something wasn’t right when he was wandering the streets of Tel-Aviv on Saturday morning.

Hugh Sheridan, centre, shelters with friends including David Draper, right, in a Tel-Aviv hotel stairwell. Picture: Instagram/David Anthony Draper

“I was wondering why the streets were empty, when we got back to the hotel, that’s when they said if the sirens go off, we’ve all got to go to the stairwell, that’s the safest place,” he said. “I still didn’t really know what actually (was) happening.”

“Sure enough sirens started going, and then everyone in the hotel was going into the stairwells. People are crying and screaming, you can hear all these massive bangs, the hotel’s shaking, you could just hear it everywhere and people were really, really afraid,” he said.

“A lot of people didn’t leave the stairwells after that.

“People were really losing it because the bangs were very frightening.

“We didn’t know if the missiles were going to be intercepted,” he said.

“Fortunately the air-defence works pretty well, I’ve seen them now in action.

He spoke of his guilt of fleeing while some of the people he was with have since been called up to fight, like his friend Maor, a 24-year-old sous-chef.

Sheridan just hours before Hamas launched an attack on Israel.

Maor told Sheridan that his commander had been killed and his girlfriend kidnapped. One of the last messages Maor sent to Sheridan was: “I will do everything to win”.

“His day went from completely normal to fighting a war in a place where they’re kidnapping soldiers and torturing them,” he said. “I just can’t get over it, I just feel so bad that we could leave.”

“I actually feel really guilty about the fact that virtually all the guys we met have been called to fight.

“The day changed so dramatically for every single person that was there.

Sheridan says he did worry that he might have never seen his family or friends again, but he’s thankful he was able to remain in contact with them.

“The continuous raids became much more terrifying, you really start to go: ‘This is actually a really bad situation’.

“If the whole country changed that much in 12 hours, what’s the next 12 going to look like? It could be really bad. It’s a full-on war now.

“Those terrorists look scary,” he said. “I don‘t think they discriminate between tourists or locals when they’re just killing civilians,” he said.