WASHINGTON – On Friday, the U.S. evacuated 79 staff and their families from the U.S. Embassy in Israel amid escalating tensions between Israel and Iran, as well as a rising number of private American citizens searching for ways to exit Israel and Iran.
An internal State Department memo indicates that the military flight, the second occurrence of its kind this week, departed Tel Aviv for Sofia, Bulgaria. From there, some or all of the passengers were expected to take a connecting charter flight to Washington.
The document, obtained by The Associated Press, also mentioned that over 6,400 U.S. citizens in Israel completed an online form on Friday requesting information on potential U.S. government-organized evacuation flights. Additionally, 3,265 individuals, potentially including some who filled out the form, called an emergency number for assistance.
The document estimated that between 300 and 500 people per day could need evacuation assistance should the U.S. decide to offer flights or ships to get Americans out, as the U.S. ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, has said is being considered.
There are some 700,000 Americans in Israel, many of them dual nationals, according to estimates, although the exact number at any given time is unclear because U.S. citizens are not required to notify the embassy if they are there or when they might leave.
Earlier Friday, before the memo was distributed, State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce told reporters that more than 25,000 Americans had reached out for information on leaving Israel, the West Bank and Iran.
She told reporters that those people had sought “information and support” and were “seeking guidance” on departing. She would not give a breakdown of where the queries had come from and would not comment on embassy evacuations.
In Iran, the document said that at least 84 U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents, or Green Card holders, had crossed into neighboring Azerbaijan by land since the conflict began and that an additional 774 had been granted permission to enter as of Friday.
Nearly 200 American citizens and Green Card holders are awaiting permission to travel overland from Iran to neighboring Turkmenistan, it said.
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