I was held at gunpoint for an hour off the coast of Israel

‘My family all said goodbye to each other. I feel so blessed to be alive’

| UPDATED

A Leeds student and her family were held at gunpoint by Jordanian soldiers off the coast of Israel yesterday.

Fashion second year, Ellie was on holiday in Israel when her rented boat got close to the Jordanian waters. She claims border control guards wouldn’t let them leave.

The 19-year-old from London was held alongside her family for over an hour. They were able to leave once Ellie made a secret call to a friend who reported it to the Israeli army.

“We were all extremely frightened but we were trying to stay strong,” Ellie told us. “We were crying and we could tell that it was offending them so we held back our tears and tried to stay as calm and collected as we possibly could.”

“I didn’t feel ready to die so I knew I had to stay strong,” Ellie said. “I had to show my little brother and younger sister that I was staying positive and I kept saying ‘it’s ok it’s ok’ even though I had no idea if it really was going to be ok.”

She added: “We all kept saying goodbye to each other and were repeatedly saying I love you and sorry for anything mean we’ve ever done. I genuinely feel so blessed to be alive. I can’t quite understand why we are still here and not either dead or captured somewhere.”

Border crossing between Israel and Jordan is permitted, but a visa is required. It was a quick phone call to her friend which helped the family get away, which eventually led to the army intervening.

She explained: “This was before they attached the boat, so they were preoccupied. I called my best friend who has a brother in the Israeli army.” The Israeli Defence Forces then turned up to take them back.

Ellie said: “I read about these type of stories everyday and you never think that it’s going to be you. 10cm in front was a gun being pointed at me and my family. We had all said goodbye to each other.”