A Bridgeport mayoral candidate is now stranded in Israel.

Republican candidate David Herz had been spending the Jewish holidays in Israel visiting his wife and two sons.

He says for now he and his family are safe, about 100 miles away from the fighting.

"It's brutal," said Herz.

Herz says the images he has seen from the Israel-Hamas War are hard to watch.

"I think we were just in shock for the first two or three days, and all of the sudden you know the minion is smaller, there are fewer people around.  It's just quiet.  Everyone knows someone who has been affected by this," said Herz.

The Bridgeport lawyer says he just got to see his son who is now fighting in the Israeli military. His son knows people in the military who have been killed.

"We had sirens yesterday because there were some air incursions in the north," said Herz.

Herz says as sad as these current strikes have been, he is still living with the pain of attacks Israelis have been suffering for years.

"I have a friend who's in a wheelchair from prior action, I have another friend who's missing a leg, I have another friend whose son was permanently brain damaged by an attack.  So it's not like we don't live with this every day," said Herz.

Herz says he was scheduled to be on a flight Saturday but that all flights were canceled.  He is now scheduled to return to Bridgeport on Tuesday to continue campaigning.