A former Valley martial arts teacher is in Israel and after a number of flight cancellations he's hoping to get out of the war torn country later this week.

Boyer Carrillo lived in the Valley for 10 years, teaching kids Taekwondo in several cities. Six months ago, he left to share his passion in Israel.

"I came here to be able to work with beginner kids to compete and to form a new generation," Carrillo said.

Carrillo is staying in Ramla, about 40 miles away from Gaza, the center of the Israeli-Hamas conflict.

He says while he's grateful to be in a fairly safe environment, he's still fearful of what could happen. 

"I'm not very close to the fighting, but the whole city feels like it vibrates every time there's a rocket," Carrillo said.

Flights out of Israel are currently hard to come by, but Carrillo is finding hope thousands of miles away in the Valley, where his friends have been working to get him home. 

Carrillo's friends from a Valley biking group helped buy him a plane ticket for October 20. He hopes to get back to Mexico City, his hometown.

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