When the missiles began streaking toward Israel last week and the government quickly halted air travel over its besieged skies, Eli Friedman, 20, thought he might not get back home to Baltimore for a while.

But after several days in his Jerusalem hotel’s bomb shelter, he and other travelers began a journey under secrecy and heavy guard — by bus to the coast, by luxury cruise ship to Cyprus, by air to Rome and New York and finally, on Thursday afternoon, by his parents’ car back to Baltimore.

“I feel like I’ve lived a year in a week,” said his relieved mother, Liz Minkin-Friedman.

The family is among those in the area whose ties to Israel are deep and for whom the escalating war with Iran hits particularly close to the heart.

Among them are those who participate in the now 22-year-old partnership that The Associated: Jewish Federation of Baltimore has with the city of Ashkelon on Israel’s southern coast. The calls, texts, and WhatsApp and Facebook messages flew between the two cities last week.

“Everybody is connected to Baltimore, checking on us daily,” Sigal Ariely said via Zoom from her home in Ashkelon. “It’s truly our brothers from the other side of the ocean … thinking of us and caring for us.”

Ariely, the partnership’s director in Israel, said after numerous trips to Baltimore, she feels quite at home when she visits, a feeling duplicated for Baltimoreans who have traveled to Ashkelon and elsewhere in the country.

Friedman, who, along with other family members, has participated in programs in Ashkelon, was in Israel with his cousin, David Feig, this month on a Birthright visit, a 10-day trip many young Jewish adults take as part of a program to foster connections to the country.

The cousins, who are both students at the University of Maryland, College Park, are safe now, but Friedman said he can’t help but think of the Israelis he left behind.

“We were fortunate to be able to return home by cruise; they don’t have that option,” Friedman, a business student, said as his parents drove him home from JFK International Airport. “They remain there through difficult times, serving and protecting Israel.”

The two countries have been trading strikes since Israel launched an attack on Iranian nuclear and military structures.

“It’s been a rollercoaster of emotions,” said his father, Keith Friedman, a cardiologist in Columbia. When he talked to Eli during in subsequent days, he said, his son “didn’t sound worried, he sounded more exhausted, waking up two or three times a night to go to the shelter.”

After 11 trips to Israel, his mother said she has many close friends there who immediately wanted to pick up her son when the conflict with Iran began.

“They were telling me, ‘I’m going to go get your son,’” said Minkin-Friedman, a social worker. “I said, ‘No! Don’t leave your house.’”

These days, “transportation is scary,” Minkin-Friedman said, and the safest place is in a shelter, either in their own homes or nearby.

And indeed, the details of her son’s travel were kept secret by the trip organizers. Even Eli Friedman said he was surprised when they got to the Israeli coast and instead of a ferry, the Birthright group was ushered onto a cruise ship to Cyprus.

“I was very relieved to get home and to see my parents. People were pretty emotional at the airport,” he said.

“I’ve got my boy!” Minkin-Friedman said via text as the family traveled back to Baltimore.

Having visited Israel nearly a dozen times, she said she felt confident that the country and the Birthright program would get him home safely.

“I’m a firm believer that they’ve got this. I have such faith in the Israeli government and the (Israel Defense Forces) and Birthright themselves,” she said. “There is no other country that could handle it.”

It is, of course, a hard-earned experience from the long history of conflict in the Middle East.

Ashkelon, in particular, has come under heavy attack in recent years, given that it is about eight miles from the Hamas-controlled territory of Gaza. It’s come under fire during the continuing war that was triggered by the Hamas attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, and even before that.

In May 2021, Ariely’s home was destroyed in a barrage of rocket fire from Gaza that killed two women and injured more than 90 people. While the government paid for most of the rebuild, Ariely said Baltimoreans generously assisted as well.

These days, Ashkelon is relatively safer, she said, with Iran focused more on the central part of the country. Multiple news photos show Israel’s Iron Dome defense system over Ashkelon intercepting missiles from Iran.

Ariely said she is grateful for how The Associated has helped provide mattresses, fans, refrigerators and games for children that are used in bomb shelters for those who don’t have a safe space in their own homes. Additionally, she said, many have taken advantage of another program funded by The Associated, mental health services for residents traumatized by living under constant threat.

She thinks of her 3-year-old granddaughter, who makes siren noises when she plays with her toys and reassures them, “Don’t worry, I’m going to take you to the shelter.”

Then there are the older kids, whose graduation celebrations “are not going to happen.

“We have kids here, it’s their 12th grade. So between COVID … and this war, they didn’t have even one year that was normal,” she said. “There are no proms, there are no final matriculations. They’re going to get their end-of-the-year diploma by email.”

Andrew Cushnir, president and CEO of The Associated, said that after more than two decades of partnership, the group is “sadly very practiced at providing support” to Ashkelon.

Cushnir said Ashelon is experiencing “a slight breather” at the moment from the frequent attacks from Gaza. But there is rarely true relief from threat, both in Israel and for those who care about the country from afar.

“I think everybody who feels a deep personal connection to Israel has been on pins and needles since October 7,” he said. “But now the attacks from Iran are a different level of magnitude.”

He is grateful for Israel’s defense system that protects the country from many but not all attacks. And indeed, a hospital in Southern Israel was struck Thursday, injuring 80 patients and staff, although many had previously been evacuated.

“Iran is an existential threat to Israel,” he said, “and all peace-loving people in the world.”

Gail Green, who co-chairs the Baltimore-Ashkelon Partnership, was part of a group that traveled to the Israeli city after the Hamas attacks in October to support and “bear witness” during a time that feels very much like the dividing line between before and after.

Prior, the Israeli defenses seemed “100 percent” impenetrable, she said.

“Oct. 7 destroyed that feeling of confidence,” Green said. “Everything was breached. It was a complete paradigm shift.”

While her group contributes about $260,000 a year to Ashkelon, the relationship goes beyond the monetary, she said.

“It’s the people-to-people connection,” she said. “And it goes both ways, they’ve been there for me as well.”

She remembers when the Key Bridge collapsed early that morning of March 26, 2024, and her phone quickly filled with calls and texts of concerns from Ashkelon.

“It means everything,” Green said. “It’s a family of the heart.”