TRENTON, NJ – Hundreds of New Jersey residents are stranded in Israel after commercial airlines grounded flights in and out of the war-torn country. Thousands of Americans nationwide have family members and most are trying to get their loved ones out of the country before a full ground war erupts.
Compounding the issue is that the State Department has yet to publicly announce any official plans to evacuate citizens.
Elected officials are urging the federal government to take action sooner, rather than later.
“I’ve written a letter already yesterday to the State Department asking for aircraft to do emergency evacuations like we’ve done and other natural disasters or times of war. And so we are urging the State Department to provide that aircraft now,” Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand said. “The commercial flights would normally be dropping people in Israel and then taking people away, but no one’s landing. And so if you have a commercial flight in and out of Israel, it’s likely not going to be there. So the only option for a lot of families is to take a regional flight, but the regional flights can often be very expensive.”
Gillibrand, of New York, was one of 150 lawmakers telling the State Department this week to get into gear.
A bipartisan group of 146 Members of Congress has penned a letter urging the consideration of charter flights and military aircraft to assist in the evacuation of U.S. citizens stranded in Israel. The request comes as numerous airlines have suspended their commercial flights out of the country, leaving many Americans without a clear path for a return journey home.
The signatories emphasize the importance of ensuring the safety and well-being of U.S. citizens abroad, especially in regions experiencing conflict. The unprecedented nature of the recent attacks has raised concerns over the ability of Americans to navigate their way out safely, particularly with the decline in available commercial flights.
“If other countries like Poland have military planes on the ground and conducting evacuations, there’s no reason why the U.S. is not doing the same,” said Rep. Nicole Malliotakis. “We need immediate action from President Biden, the U.S. Department of State and the Department of Defense to take swift action to get commercial, charter and military planes on the ground to get Americans home as quickly as possible.”
A private Florida-based non-profit, Project DYNAMO is busy organizing an evacuation strategy for Americans who want to leave Israel. It’s the same private organization that evacuated Americans from Afghanistan after the botched U.S. withdrawal from the war-torn country.
“My team of case managers, who are based in America, they’ve been awake for three days just fielding hundreds and hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of requests from Americans who are stuck,” the project’s founder and CEO Bryan Stern said. “We’re still pulling Americans out of Afghanistan – I have 22 Americans I’m trying to get out of Afghanistan. So we’re busy. We’re busy all the time with all kinds of things.”
Stern said there is a sense of urgency, stating ‘Being American is not popular” in the areas attacked this weekend by Hamas.
In late-breaking news, the State Department has reportedly contacted Americans registered with the department in Israel saying a plan to relocate residents by sea, air, and land is in the works, however, that plan reportedly consists of bringing Americans to nearby countries where they can make their own accommodations to return to the U.S.