The United States Embassy in Jerusalem is working on arranging flights and cruise ships for American citizens looking to leave Israel, the American ambassador, Mike Huckabee, announced on Wednesday, after days in which Americans trying to depart the country could not get evacuation assistance from the embassy.
The announcement came as the conflict between Israel and Iran continued for a sixth day and fears grew that the United States could more directly enter the conflict. Israel and Iran have closed their airspaces since the fighting began, leaving foreigners visiting those countries scrambling to find avenues to leave by land or sea as governments around the world have issued travel warnings and urged their citizens to return home.
It was not immediately clear when evacuation flights and cruise ships arranged by the State Department would depart or how many passengers would be involved. In a post on social media, Mr. Huckabee directed Americans seeking to leave Israel to enroll in the State Department’s Smart Traveler program to receive information.
The announcement was the first from the State Department indicating that the United States would help evacuate its citizens from Israel since the country began a surprise attack on Iran on Friday. Israeli strikes have killed at least 224 people in Iran, according to Iran’s Health Ministry, and retaliatory strikes by Iran have killed at least 24 people in Israel, according to the Israeli government.
The State Department had warned of extreme risk in traveling to Israel and authorized some family members and nonessential personnel to depart. But since Friday, the American Embassy in Jerusalem has had little guidance for people trying to leave. “We have no announcement about assisting private U.S. citizens to depart at this time,” the embassy said in a statement on Tuesday, adding it was aware that third parties were helping to arrange some travel but that it was unable to endorse them.
Several countries have helped evacuate their citizens from Iran in recent days, largely through land routes into neighboring countries. India’s Foreign Ministry said that its embassy had evacuated 110 Indian students from northern Iran on Tuesday, helping them travel by road to Yerevan, the Armenian capital, to await flights to New Delhi. A spokesman for China’s Foreign Ministry, Guo Jiakun, said on Wednesday that the Chinese Embassy and consulate in Iran had coordinated the evacuation of nearly 800 Chinese citizens from the country and that around 1,000 others were still to be relocated and evacuated.
The State Department warned U.S. citizens not to travel to Iran in March and does not maintain a diplomatic presence there. President Trump’s travel ban fully barring its citizens from entering the U.S. went into effect on June 9, before the latest conflict began.
Robert Reichelscheimer, an American lawyer who has been visiting Jerusalem with his wife since Thursday, described Mr. Huckabee’s announcement as a long-awaited “acknowledgment that we are here” after what he said had been multiple attempts to reach the U.S. Embassy, as well as senators back home in New York, with no luck.
“I don’t expect them to come and rescue me the next day, while missiles are flying,” he said. “But I do expect the federal government to keep me abreast of what steps are being taken.”
Anushka Patil is a Times reporter covering breaking and developing news around the world.
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