ABC7 chief legal analyst describes harrowing journey home from Israel: 'It felt very bleak'

CHICAGO (WLS) -- ABC7 viewers usually hear former federal prosecutor Gil Soffer offering his extensive expertise on a range of legal issues the ABC7 I-Team covers.

However, this is a much more personal story. One of fear, fortitude and resilience in the face of an armed conflict that erupted while he was visiting Israel with his family for a wedding.

ABC7 Chicago is now streaming 24/7. Click here to watch

The sound of sirens is all too familiar to those living in Tel Aviv, but they had been foreign to ABC7 Chief Legal Analyst Gil Soffer and his family. They had returned from a wedding when the sirens went off.

"Just fell asleep, and then at 3:30 in the morning, sirens blare outside and on our phones and in the hotel, and we rush into the bomb shelter," Soffer told the I-Team.

It was the moment Israel attacked Iran a week and a half ago.

"We heard that first siren that signified that the country had just attacked Iran and that we should all be expecting massive retaliation," Soffer said. "And so those next 12 hours, those were harrowing. What are they going to do? And of course, we know what they did. They fired over 100 ballistic missiles as we sat in our shelter and listened to the booms, that was scary."

Over the course of eight grueling days, Soffer, his wife and two daughters were compelled to shelter in a safe room at their Tel Aviv lodgings 15 to 20 times, along with others in the home. One missile destroyed an apartment complex just blocks from where they were staying.

"It felt very bleak in a way... the worst part, it wasn't the fear, it was there, but it wasn't the fear of being hit by a missile or shrapnel or a blast. That's always a risk," Soffer explained. "We felt fairly secure in our shelter. It was the uncertainty, when are we getting out? How are we getting out? The airspace is closed. All flights are canceled. There was no prediction about when that would change."

RELATED | Chicago-area groups react to, protest ongoing strikes between Israel, Iran

Then, a glimmer of hope. Soffer embarked on a week-long project to hire a private extraction firm to get him and his family out of harm's way. They were picked up in the early morning hours last Friday.

He described their first moments on the open road, away from the safety of the shelter.

"That was the most frightening, I would say, of all the days that we were there, because, as our drivers told us, if there's a missile attack, if there's a siren, if there's an alert during that drive, we have only one option. Car has to stop, we have to jump out, and we have 90 seconds to find a ditch to lie flat," Soffer said.

But as they drove, no missiles flew. They made it from Tel Aviv to Jordan, Jordan to Dubai, Dubai to Paris, and Paris to Chicago. They were finally back home.

"It was only a dream during the course of those eight days in the bomb shelter," Soffer said. "It's all we could think about was, what would it feel like to be out and to be home and to be on familiar ground, and then when it finally happened, it was the greatest sense of relief."

After a few days home, Soffer reflected on the journey.

"It may sound odd to say... but we value the experience now that it's done, because what we saw looking back is it really made us bond together very tightly as a family," Soffer said.