The U.S. State Department organized two evacuation flights out of Israel for Americans on Saturday, it said.
A State Department official said approximately 70 U.S. citizens, their accompanying immediate family members, and lawful permanent residents flew from Tel Aviv to Athens in what Mike Huckabee, the U.S. ambassador to Israel, termed “Operation Exodus.”
The flights took place hours before the United States launched its attacks on Iranian nuclear facilities.
The departures are being organized on a voluntary basis for those wishing to leave Israel, including Judea and Samaria, due to the Israel-Iran conflict.
The Associated Press reported that Washington evacuated 79 staff and families from the U.S. Embassy in Israel on Friday, with an internal State Department memo stating that the military flight, destined for Sofia, Bulgaria, was the second such flight last week.
The document said that between 300 and 500 people per day could need evacuation assistance, and over 6,400 people had filled out an online form on Friday alone seeking information.
Huckabee is urging those who wish to evacuate to sign up for the State Department’s Smart Traveler Enrollment Program (STEP).
“If you are a U.S. citizen or Lawful Permanent Resident currently in Israel or the West Bank and seeking U.S. government assistance to depart, please complete this form so the Department of State can better assist you and provide you with timely updates: https://mytravel.state.gov/s/crisis-intake,” Huckabee wrote. “If you have only completed the crisis intake form, please do not fill it out again.”
Huckabee wrote on Wednesday that the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem was beginning to assist American citizens with evacuation flights and cruise ship departures. But the State Department said that same day that it had “no announcement about assisting private U.S. citizens to depart at this time,” causing confusion.
The State Department has Israel under a Level 4 travel advisory, instructing Americans to avoid travel there due to “armed conflict, terrorism and civil unrest,” while Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion International Airport remains closed.
The State Department is urging citizens who can depart on their own to do so and not wait for government assistance. Some have made their way to Jordan or Egypt and flown out from there.
Birthright Israel evacuated around 1,500 participants via an Israeli cruise ship bound for Cyprus. Other private endeavors have been initiated, and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis organized flights that have brought to the Sunshine State roughly 1,500 evacuees.