The State of Israel was the only nation that evacuated all of its citizens from the war zone in Georgia, and the planes from Tbilisi also brought the Jewish state dozens of new immigrants.
Can't see video? click here for interview with Maya
One of the new immigrants, Maya Gogyashvili, described the situation to IsraelNationalNews: "Lots of bombs, they are throwing lots of bombs. Bombing Gori and around Gori, the villages... It's a very bad situation. Lots of people are killed and died. Soldiers. I'm very sad, you know, when I am thinking about soldiers I always want to cry."
Maya's parents made arrangements for her and her sister to board the plane to Israel but stayed behind and are now in Tbilisi. She now is making plans to study Hebrew.
"In Gori there were lots of Jewish families, maybe 200 people, maybe more," Gogyashvili estimated. "Every Friday my father was going to synagogue."