TAMPA, Fla. – As fighting in the Middle East continues, thousands of Americans are now looking to flee Israel, and Florida is working to coordinate flights home.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis early Friday welcomed 150 evacuees from Israel at Tampa International Airport.
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“We have a lot of students that are visiting, that are studying. We have people who are Israel-birthright program who are going for the first time in their lives to be able to see Israel and learn about their heritage, and then all of a sudden to have this happen, you’re really in no man’s land,” DeSantis said.
DeSantis said it’s not the first time Florida has led rescue situations.
“This is probably the most challenging and logistically difficult mission that the Florida Department of Emergency Management has done, certainly in my time,” he said.
Broward County resident Josh Hammer was one of the people who arrived home on the flight that landed early Friday in Tampa.
“You’re essentially waiting on pins and needles for the sirens to go off,” he said. “Getting out in the middle of a war zone is not my inclination per se, but being the father to a 6-month-old girl is what we were thinking of.”
“Getting out” for Hammer meant taking a ship to Cyprus, more than 255 miles away, then boarding a flight home since Israel’s main airport is shut down, along with most of the airspace across the Middle East.
In total, Florida chartered four wide-body planes to bring Americans home, with more than 300 already back in the U.S.
The evacuations come as the US State Department has already started evacuating nonessential diplomats and their families, with more evacuations and more flights expected in the coming days as the fighting continues.