Church worker Gloria Mok landed in Israel days before fighting erupted, but plans to stay to complete her three-month Hebrew course
2-MIN READ2-MIN ListenVivian AuPublished: 11:00am, 15 Mar 2026Updated: 11:04am, 15 Mar 2026While hundreds of Hongkongers stranded in the Middle East have scrambled for flights home after the US-Israel war on Iran broke out, a devoted Christian from the city has chosen to stay, saying she has experienced far worse before.The outbreak of war was unsettling, but Gloria Mok Chong-ngar said she found a way to maintain her inner peace in Jerusalem’s bomb shelters.
“The sirens kept ringing last week, sometimes as frequently as every few minutes, but I would play the harp in the bomb shelter and pray,” said Mok, who is in her fifties.
Mok, who works in a Hong Kong church group, has made more than 20 trips to Israel. Her latest trip was to attend a three-month course on Hebrew, something she had long wanted to undertake.
Having arrived in mid-February, she found everything going smoothly until the war began later that month.
“My schedule was forced to change, and my language classes last week were suspended,” she said.
