'My daughter should not be in a war zone. She should be taking her mock GCSEs'

Father's plea after British national Bella Baker, 15, is trapped in Haifa after Israel-Iran conflict escalated over the weekend

- ALEX ROSS

Fifteen-year-old Bella Baker should be in a classroom in Leeds, beginning her GCSE mock exams.

Instead, she is facing the horror of the Israel-Iran conflict as she remains stranded in a hotel in the northern Israeli port of Haifa, where yesterday, 30 people were injured in a dawn missile attack on the city.

With her mother, the pair are among the dozens of British nationals who are unable to return home from Israel after authorities closed the country's airspace for landings and takeoffs due to an escalation in the war.

The pair had travelled to Israel for a family member's bar mitzvah last Tuesday, but plans to come home on Sunday changed after Israel's surprise attack on Friday sparked retaliation from Iran.

The assault resulted in a weekend of escalating attacks between the two countries. And early yesterday morning, Iran fired a new wave of missiles at Tel Aviv and Haifa, killing eight people.

Now Bella and her mother are living in a war zone in Haifa, and unable to get a flight or boat home, said Bella's father, Leslie Baker.