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The United States has started the voluntary evacuation process for U.S. citizens who wish to leave Israel amid the country’s conflict with Iran.
“Urgent notice,” Mike Huckabee, the U.S. ambassador to Israel, posted on social media on Wednesday. “American citizens wanting to leave Israel, the U.S. embassy in Israel is working on evacuation flights and cruise ship departures.”
The envoy urged citizens to enroll in the Smart Traveler Enrollment Program to receive updates.
The U.S. State Department announced on Tuesday that it established a Middle East task force, operating 24 hours a day, to help coordinate support for U.S. citizens, diplomatic missions and personnel during the conflict between Israel and Iran.
Tammy Bruce, the State Department spokeswoman, told reporters that the task force will help U.S. citizens stranded in regional trouble spots receive timely information, including travel advisories and security updates, through a website and hotline.
But details about the potential evacuation of U.S. citizens were lacking, including figures of how many Americans have requested to depart and what options are available to them, even as other countries are calling for their citizens to leave Israel.
“Our commitment is to the safety and security of Americans around the world,” Bruce told reporters at the department’s press briefing.
Bruce denied that the department was caught flat-footed by the conflict’s rapid pace.
“The Department of State is always planning for contingencies to assist private U.S. citizens’ departure from crisis areas, and we will alert the U.S. citizenry community if there is, and when there is, additional information to share regarding their options during any crisis, but certainly this one as well,” she said.
Given the rate at which Israel is dismantling Iran’s chain of political and military command, the issue may be moot, particularly if, as U.S. President Donald Trump hinted on Tuesday and Wednesday, the United States becomes actively involved in the attacks.
Still, Reps. Josh Gottheimer (D-N.J.) and Wesley Bell (D-Mo.), and 43 other House members sent a bipartisan letter to Trump and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio urging them to lay out to Congress the steps they have planned to evacuate American citizens from Israel.
Read the latest on the conflict between Israel and Iran
- Israel brands Iran’s supreme leader Khamenei a ‘modern Hitler’ who ‘should no longer continue to exist’
- Dozens of Iranian missiles strike major Israeli hospital and residential buildings — as Israel hits nuclear sites
- Bill Clinton urges Trump to ‘defuse’ Israel-Iran crisis, end ‘outright constant killing of civilians’
- Trump says moments before Situation Room meeting that he hasn’t made a final decision about striking Iran — but will ‘one second before’
- Trump tells Netanyahu to ‘keep going’ with airstrikes, says he’s given Iran ‘ultimate ultimatum’
“Americans in Israel are depending on our government for guidance and a pathway to safety,” the congressmen wrote. “We understand the obstacles posed by the current security situation and the closure of Israel’s airspace. Therefore, all available options, including evacuations by land routes and sea, must be explored.”
The letter noted that constituents were already being directed to the Smart Traveler Enrollment Program registration page, without further clarity.
“We trust that you will honor your responsibility to protect the American people, no matter where they are in the world,” the lawmakers wrote. They sought answers by today.
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