As tensions escalate between Israel and Iran, and the prospect of direct Pentagon involvement against Iran lingers, the US State Department has begun evacuating diplomats and their families from the American embassy in Israel. So far these are diplomats deemed 'nonessential' personnel.
According to American officials cited in The Associated Press, a government aircraft transported several diplomats and family members who requested to leave on Wednesday.
The exact number of individuals on the flight or those who may have exited via land routes to Jordan or Egypt - or sea routes - remains unclear.
The AP notes that the evacuation flight occurred shortly before US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee posted on X that the embassy was preparing evacuation plans by air and sea for private US citizens - including by arranging cruise liners to assist with logistics.
However, just hours later, the State Department’s Bureau of Consular Affairs said on X that there are as yet no official plans (as of Wednesday) to assist private Americans in leaving Israel or the Palestinian territories.
Some 600,000 Americans had lived in Israeli prior to the start of the Gaza war, however, most are residents and have dual citizenship.
Already, going back to the Hamas terror attack of Oct. 7, 2023 - and Israeli military assault on Gaza - there have been a steady stream of Americans and foreigners departing Israel.
Tel Aviv overnight came under heavy Iranian ballistic missile attack, and there have been missile attacks on the north as well. Israel's air defenses have been overwhelmed, and Israel's military has admitted that many warheads have made it through, with a major hospital also having been hit.
Iran has been getting hit hard by Israeli warplanes for nearly a week, but the country's elite IRGC has been touting recent new waves of "complex rocket and drone attacks on military targets" in Haifa and Tel Aviv - in a Thursday statement.
There's no solution on the horizon, and while European countries scramble to also get their citizens out, there are so far unsuccessful efforts to get the Iranians back to the nuclear negotiating table. In terms of escalation, much may depend on what the White House decides in terms of the level of its direct involvement in the aerial war.
