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About 400 passengers have left Israel on US-assisted flights
Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on June 24, 2025
3 min readLast updated: January 23, 2026
Global Banking & Finance Review®
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Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on June 24, 2025
3 min readLast updated: January 23, 2026
The US has evacuated 400 citizens from Israel amid conflict with Iran. Efforts include flights and overland routes, with more evacuations planned.
By Daphne Psaledakis and Humeyra Pamuk
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The United States has helped about 400 U.S. citizens and others to fly out of Israel since Saturday amid conflict with Iran and hopes to accommodate more in the coming days, a senior State Department official said on Tuesday.
"We very much know that there's still capacity, still U.S. citizens seeking to leave Israel, that the airspace is not reliably opened up. It is incredibly dynamic," the official said.
The State Department is sharing information with over 27,000 people about leaving the region and safety and security, the official said, up from 25,000 last week.
The U.S. started some limited assisted-departure flights for U.S. citizens, lawful permanent residents and their immediate family members on Saturday.
The official said thousands had also left Israel overland for Jordan, while several hundred had departed through Egypt over the past two days. Several thousand U.S. citizens have gone to Cyprus on ships, mostly arranged by Birthright or other private groups.
Hundreds have left Iran through Azerbaijan, the official said. Turkmenistan has been restricting the entry of U.S. citizens but is now allowing them in after weekend diplomatic efforts.
The State Department is aware of reports of a couple of U.S. citizens detained in Iran in this process but has no additional information to share, the official said.
U.S. President Donald Trump announced on Monday that Israel and Iran had reached a ceasefire deal, although violations were reported.
Israel launched a surprise attack on June 13, hitting Iran's nuclear sites and killing the top echelon of its military command.
Retaliatory missile strikes have killed 28 people in Israel.
Adam Goldstone, who arrived in Florida on Tuesday after leaving Israel through an effort to evacuate Americans organized by Governor Ron DeSantis and the Florida Department of Emergency Management, said his family tried any way to get out of the country but that there were not many options.
"It was pretty indescribable. We left Sunday morning. There were sirens. We took a bus all the way to the Jordanian border. We spent hours at the border there trying to cross over," Goldstone said.
Florida contracted the operation with Grey Bull Rescue, a Tampa-based foundation aiming at rescuing Americans from conflict zones, as well as the state's Department of Transportation.
His wife, Donna Goldstone, said they had had to run to bomb shelters over 25 times.
"Sleepless nights for the past week and a half. It has been really intense," she said.
(Reporting by Daphne Psaledakis and Humeyra Pamuk in Washington and Octavio Jones in Tampa; Editing by Kevin Liffey and Lisa Shumaker)
About 400 U.S. citizens and others have flown out of Israel with U.S. assistance since Saturday.
The airspace is not reliably opened, making the situation incredibly dynamic for those seeking to leave.
The State Department is sharing information with over 27,000 people regarding safety and security and options for leaving the region.
Evacuees like Adam Goldstone described their harrowing journey, including running to bomb shelters multiple times and spending hours at the Jordanian border.
The State Department is aware of reports of a couple of U.S. citizens detained in Iran during the evacuation process.
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