OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, December 30 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – With thousands of bodies washed up and more others left stranded by the tidal waves that devastated Asia this week, a Palestinian couple rushed to the aid of a pair of Israeli honeymooners.
“It's simply an amazing couple. They paid for one hotel night and our plane tickets. It's wonderful,” Yossi Gross told the Maariv newspaper Wednesday, December 29, after arriving back in Israel.
Yossi and Inbar Gross from Kiryat Gat, an Israeli town close to Tel Aviv, were staying in the same hostel as Samy and Sally Khuri, from occupied Jerusalem, in the same hotel in the onetime breathtaking Thai island resort of Phuket, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).
After a romantic stroll on the beach Sunday, Israeli newlyweds went up their room only to find “a huge wave arriving,” Yossi recalled.
The killer tsunamis were unleashed by a gigantic 9.0 magnitude tectonic shift 150 kilometres (93 miles) off Sumatra, Indonesia, rolling on across the Indian Ocean to wreak havoc in 11 countries.
The Israeli couple managed to flee but their belongings, including money and passports, were washed away by the tidal waves. They were left penniless, helpless.
The Palestinians did not hesitate to help the grief-stricken Israelis lending them money to buy plane tickets back to Israel.
The Palestinians further reserved a full-board one night for the Israeli newlyweds in another hotel before flying out of the devastated area.
Israel's foreign ministry said Wednesday it was still awaiting news from 150 citizens in various Asian countries hit by the quake.
Up to five million people were displaced by tsunamis that killed more than 88,000 people in Asia, officials said Thursday, December 30.
The final death toll from Thailand's tidal wave disaster could exceed 6,000, Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra indicated Thursday.
The interior ministry's latest confirmed death toll was 1,976 including 345 foreigners. It said 5,793 were missing, a slight decrease from earlier Thursday.