After war broke out in the Middle East, thousands of Americans are trying to evacuate the region.
The State Department urged Americans to depart from 14 different countries in the Middle East after the United States and Israel launched multiple missile strikes in Iran. However, many Americans are unable to find flights to leave the area.
For example: Israel is one the areas where Americans were asked to evacuate from, yet the country’s main international airport, Ben Gurion Airport, was closed this week. The U.S. embassy in Jerusalem said it would re-open Thursday for limited inbound flights and it had no information when outbound flights might become available.
Akiva and Leorah Marcus, who are from Boca Raton, said they’ve been stuck in Israel since their flight was canceled on Saturday. They said they feel safe because they are currently living at a family member’s house, but they’ve been making repeated trips to the bomb shelters as sirens have gone off, warning them of missile or drone strikes.
“We got this much of a little taste of what our friends and family and everybody here goes through,” said Leorah. “It's torture. I don't know how they do it with little children.”
The two said they have family watching their three kids back in Boca Raton, as Akiva went on a tour of the country and Leorah helped her son move into a program inside Israel. They said they were in the country during the attacks on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, but they feel like this time there is a lack of options to get home even after calling the State Department for help.
US says it cannot help Americans leave Israel amid escalating Iran conflict
“I don't want to say it's a false sense of hope, but it is a false sense of hope because we've already done that,” Leorah said. “No one's calling us and saying here's the plan.”
“The frustration is that now the skies are opening and I want to know what the plan is,” said Akiva. “Like, some of us have to get back… I got to get back to my hospital. I have a lot of responsibilities to my patients, to the hospital and I have to get back. I don’t want to say that I’m trying to leave the Holy Land and I don’t like saying that. Israel is a very special in our lives but I got to get back to my responsibilities, my family, and we just have to know what the plan is.”
The embassy announced Wednesday it would start to offer bus services to Egypt where people could find an international flight out of the country.
As of Tuesday, the State Department said over 9,000 Americans safely returned from the Middle East, including 300 from Israel.
