WASHINGTON: US-arranged flights have brought about 350 Americans and their immediate relatives out of Lebanon this week during escalated fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, while thousands of others still there face airstrikes and diminishing commercial flights.
In Washington, senior State Department and White House officials met Thursday with two top Arab American officials to discuss US efforts to help American citizens leave Lebanon. The two leaders also separately met with officials from the Department of Homeland Security.
Michigan state Rep. Alabas Farhat and Abed Ayoub, executive director of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, used the White House meeting to “really drive home a lot of important points about the issues our community members are facing on the ground and a lot of the logistical problems that they’re encountering with it when it comes to this evacuation,” Ayoub said.
Some officials and community leaders in Michigan, home to the nation’s largest concentration of Arab Americans, are calling on the US to start an evacuation. Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh said that was not being considered right now.
“The US military is, of course, on the ready and has a whole wide range of plans. Should we need to evacuate American citizens out of Lebanon, we absolutely can,” Singh told reporters.
Israel has opened a pounding air campaign deep into Lebanon and a ground incursion in the country’s south targeting the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militant group. Iran on Tuesday fired nearly 200 ballistic missiles toward Israel, leaving the region bracing for any Israeli retaliation and fearing an all-out regional war.
Israel and Hezbollah have traded fire across the Lebanon border almost daily since the day after Hamas, another Iranian-backed militant group, attacked Israel on Oct. 7, triggering the war in Gaza.
Other countries, from Greece to the United Kingdom, Japan and Colombia, have arranged flights or sent military planes to ferry out their citizens.
As Israeli bombardments targeting senior Hezbollah leaders shook southern neighborhoods in Lebanon’s capital last week, “We could still see, hear and feel everything” despite fleeing to the mountains outside Beirut, said Nicolette Hutcherson, a longtime humanitarian volunteer living in Lebanon with her husband and three children.
The only seats Hutcherson’s family could find on commercial carriers were for flights weeks away and for thousands of dollars, she said. Ultimately, Hutcherson and her young children joined crowds heading to Lebanon’s Mediterranean marinas, finding spots on pleasure boats turned evacuation ships for the nine-hour ride to Cyprus.
Her husband was able to find a single seat out on a plane days later to join them.
Another American family was mourning Kamel Ahmad Jawad, a resident of metro Detroit’s Dearborn area, who was killed in southern Lebanon on Tuesday. Family members said he stayed to help civilians too old, infirm or poor to flee.
He had been on the phone with his daughter Tuesday when the impact of a strike knocked him off his feet, his daughter, Nadine Kamel Jawad, said in a statement.
“He simply got up, found his phone, and told me he needed to finish praying in case another strike hit him,” she said.
The State Department has been telling Americans for almost a year not to travel to Lebanon and advising them to leave the country on commercial flights for months. It also has made clear that government-run evacuations are rare, while offering emergency loans to aid travel out of Lebanon.
Some Americans said relatives who are US citizens or green-card holders have been struggling for days or weeks to get seats on flights out of Lebanon. Limits on withdrawing money from banks due to Lebanon’s longstanding economic collapse and intermittent electricity and Internet have made it difficult, they said.
Rebecca Abou-Chedid, a lawyer based in Washington, paid $5,000 to get a female relative on the last seat of a flight out of Beirut on Saturday.
“She was on her way to the airport” when Israeli began one of its first days of intensified bombing, Abou-Chedid said.
By Thursday, some Americans said their loved ones had been able to secure tickets for upcoming flights and were hopeful.
State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said the US would continue to organize flights as long the security situation in Lebanon is dire and there is demand.
Miller said Lebanon’s flag carrier, Middle East Airlines, also had set aside about 1,400 seats on flights for Americans over the past week. Several hundred had taken them, he said.
Miller could not speak to the cost of the airline’s flights, over which the US government has no regulatory oversight, but said the maximum fare that would be charged for a US-organized contract flight would be $283 per person.
More than 6,000 American citizens have contacted the US Embassy in Beirut seeking information about departing the country over the past week.
Not all of those have actually sought assistance in leaving, and Miller said the department understood that some Americans, many of them dual US-Lebanese nationals and longtime residents of the country, may choose to stay.
Miller said the embassy is prepared to offer temporary loans to Americans who choose to remain in Lebanon but want to relocate to a potentially safer area of the country. The embassy also would provide emergency loans to Americans who wish to leave on the US-contracted flights.
US arranges flights to bring Americans out of Lebanon as others seek escape
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US arranges flights to bring Americans out of Lebanon as others seek escape
- Some officials and community leaders in Michigan, home to the nation’s largest concentration of Arab Americans, are calling on the US to start an evacuation
- Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh said: “The US military is, of course, on the ready and has a whole wide range of plans”
Marjorie Taylor Greene says Gaza experiencing ‘genocide’ in Republican first
- Lawmaker: ‘The genocide, humanitarian crisis and starvation happening in Gaza’ are ‘horrific’
- Her comments follow Trump saying Palestinians in enclave suffering from ‘real starvation’
LONDON: Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene has described Israel’s war in Gaza as a “genocide,” becoming the first lawmaker from her party to do so.
It came in a social media post following comments by US President Donald Trump that contradicted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s claim that there is no starvation in Gaza.
Greene was responding to comments by Rep. Randy Fine, a Jew and one of Israel’s strongest supporters in the US Congress, The Independent reported.
Fine had said on X: “Release the hostages. Until then, starve away. (This is all a lie anyway. It amazes me that the media continues to regurgitate Muslim terror propaganda.)”
Greene responded: “I can only imagine how Florida’s sixth district feels now that their representative, that they were told to vote for, openly calls for starving innocent people and children.
“It’s the most truthful and easiest thing to say that Oct. 7 in Israel was horrific and all hostages must be returned, but so is the genocide, humanitarian crisis and starvation happening in Gaza.
“But a Jewish US representative calling for the continued starvation of innocent people and children is disgraceful.”
Her social media spat with Fine followed Trump’s contradiction of Netanyahu, who said on Sunday: “There is no policy of starvation in Gaza and there is no starvation in Gaza.”
Trump, while visiting the UK to meet Prime Minister Keir Starmer this week, said the Palestinian enclave is suffering from “real starvation.”
Palestinian children in Gaza “look very hungry,” he added, saying the US would work with other countries to provide assistance to the enclave.
Norwegian aid chief slams Israel’s Gaza war as ‘destruction of a civilization’
- Jan Egelund says time is running out to avoid a ‘bibilical famine’
- NGO chief warns aid drops and brief corridors are not enough
LONDON: Israel’s military operation in Gaza is no longer a war against militants but has become a “destruction of a civilization,” a top aid official said, warning that time is running out to prevent a “biblical famine” in the besieged enclave.
In an interview with CNN on Tuesday, Jan Egeland, secretary general of the Norwegian Refugee Council, said Israel’s continued bombardment and restrictions on aid access have left Gaza’s civilian population, particularly women and children, to suffer the consequences of a conflict they had no part in.
“What I see is that, as a military conflict, it was all over a long time ago,” Egeland told anchor Bianna Golodryga. “This is not targeted anti-terrorist warfare, it’s the destruction of a civilization now.”
The veteran humanitarian said there are no justifications for the war on Gaza, which has killed more than 60,000 people and pushed the enclave’s population of 2.2 million to the brink of famine.
“Hamas has a million sins on their conscience … but those dying (and) bleeding have nothing to do with Hamas. These are women and children. They had nothing to do with Oct. 7,” he said, calling for an immediate ceasefire and an urgent and large-scale opening of Gaza’s border crossings to allow full access for aid groups.
Egeland’s remarks come amid growing international pressure on Israel to ease restrictions and allow humanitarian aid into Gaza, as malnutrition-related deaths continue to rise. During a Saudi-French conference on Tuesday, UN experts confirmed that large areas of the enclave are now experiencing full-scale famine.
Israel has responded with efforts to increase aid deliveries including a temporary pause in military operations, partial openings of humanitarian corridors, and aid airdrops.
Egeland, however, said such efforts are not enough “to avert a biblical famine on our watch,” criticizing the air drops and temporary corridors for offering little relief to a starving population.
While he welcomed the shifting stances of US President Donald Trump, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, and other Western leaders who finally recognized the widespread starvation gripping the Palestinian territory, Egeland emphasized that the solution to avert the crisis ultimately rests with them.
“It is Israel and the Western powers that provide the arms to all of this that have to change this. They have the fingerprint all over this catastrophe really. We can change it. It’s still possible.”
Despite the mounting death toll and near-total collapse of humanitarian infrastructure, Egeland said the international community still has a chance to avert the worst — but only if it acts immediately and decisively.
“It has to be a massive ramp up. And time is running out,” he warned.
On Monday, in a meeting with Starmer, Trump acknowledged that there is “real starvation” in Gaza. The British prime minister announced the following day that the UK will recognize a Palestinian state in September unless Israel takes significant steps to end the “appalling situation” in Gaza and meets other conditions.
Egeland said Western leaders were finally acknowledging warnings that aid agencies had been raising for months.
“These capitals have known so, because we told them for many months, I’m glad it’s — there is a wakeup call now. It is very late,” he said.
Addressing the humanitarian catastrophe, the NRC chief noted the collapse of the food and health sectors, saying that people were dying from preventable disease and lack of water and sanitation.
He said his NGO has been finding it impossible to provide the basic services of water, sanitation and shelter due to the total depletion of fuel and continued restrictions.
The organization, he noted, is “still denied access for our water and sanitation hygiene items, our food and our tents.”
The aid chief paid tribute to the resilience of his Palestinian colleagues in Gaza, describing them as “real heroes” who have endured repeated displacement, hunger, and profound personal loss while continuing their humanitarian work.
“If there is anyone I would give the Nobel Peace Prize to, I would give it to my colleagues on the ground, Palestinian, in Gaza, the single mothers who are also aid workers.
“But they’re really broken now, after all of these months of starvation, all of these months of having their homes destroyed.”
Belgium says will take part in Gaza aid-drop plan
- A Belgian plane carrying medical supplies and food will fly “soon” to Jordan
BRUSSELS: Belgium will take part in a multi-country operation coordinated by Jordan to air drop aid to Gaza, the government announced Wednesday, as UN agencies warn the Palestinian territory is slipping into famine.
A Belgian plane carrying medical supplies and food worth some 600,000 euros ($690,000) will fly “soon” to Jordan, and will remain on stand-by to conduct air drops in coordination with Amman, the defense and foreign ministries said in a statement.
UK’s top Jewish body demands surge in Gaza aid
- Board of Deputies of British Jews issues rare criticism of Israel after emergency meeting
- It follows growing divisions within Jewish community over Gaza war
LONDON: Britain’s leading Jewish body has demanded that Israel launch a surge of aid to Gaza.
In rare criticism of Israel’s government, the Board of Deputies of British Jews called for a “rapid, uninhibited and sustained increase in aid through all available channels” for the Palestinian enclave.
It followed an emergency meeting held by the organization on Tuesday amid mounting anguish over the catastrophic situation in Gaza.
Phil Rosenberg, the board’s president, said: “The suffering we are witnessing in the Gaza Strip demands a response ... We need to see a rapid, uninhibited, and sustained increase in aid through all available channels, and we need to see all agencies cooperating in this endeavor.
“As we have been saying for months, food must not be used as a weapon of war, by any side in this conflict.”
A month ago, the organization took controversial disciplinary action against 36 of its elected officials who had signed an open letter criticizing Israel’s actions in Gaza. Five of the 36 were suspended for two years.
The board’s statement represents a significant shift within the British Jewish body politic, and follows rising tensions within the community over the war in Gaza.
Dozens of deputies wrote to the board leadership before Tuesday’s emergency meeting demanding that the organization appeal to the Israeli government to “end this suffering.”
The letter added: “Nothing could be more damaging to the British Jewish community than staying silent in this moment.”
Marie van der Zyl, the former president of the board, wrote last week for Jewish News that “hunger and human suffering, on this scale, are incompatible with the core values of our faith.”
In a letter, a group of more than 400 influential rabbis from around the world, including many from the UK, also called on the Israeli government to end its “callous indifference to starvation.”
Jewish people worldwide “face a great moral crisis,” the letter warned. “We cannot condone the mass killings of civilians, including a great many women, children and elderly, or the use of starvation as a weapon of war.”
At least 46 Palestinians killed by Israeli fire, Gaza hospitals say, as the war drags on
- The Israeli military did not immediately comment on any of the strikes, but says it only targets militants and blames civilian deaths on Hamas because the militants operate in densely populated areas
DEIR AL-BALAH: Israeli strikes and gunfire in the Gaza Strip killed at least 46 Palestinians overnight into Wednesday morning, most of them among crowds seeking food, local hospitals said.
The dead include more than 30 people who were killed while seeking humanitarian aid, according to that treated dozens of wounded people.
The Israeli military didn’t immediately comment on any of the strikes, but says it only targets militants and blames civilian deaths on Hamas, because the group’s militants operate in densely populated areas.
The deaths came as the United Kingdom announced that it would recognize a Palestinian state in September, unless Israel agrees to a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war, following a similar declaration by France’s president. Israel’s foreign ministry said that it rejected the British statement.
The Shifa hospital in Gaza City said that it received 12 people who were killed Tuesday night when Israeli forces opened fire toward crowds awaiting aid trucks coming from the Zikim crossing in northwestern Gaza.
Thirteen others were killed in strikes in the Jabaliya refugee camp, and the northern towns of Beit Lahiya and Beit Hanoun, the hospital said.
In the southern city of Khan Younis, the Nasser hospital said it received the bodies of 16 people who it says were killed Tuesday evening while waiting for aid trucks close to the newly-built Morag corridor, which separates Khan Younis from the southernmost city of Rafah.
The hospital received another body for a man killed in a strike on a tent in Khan Younis, it said.
The Awda hospital in the urban Nuseirat refugee camp said that it received the bodies of four Palestinians who it says were killed Wednesday by Israeli fire close to an aid distribution site run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, or GHF, in the Netzarim corridor area, south of the Wadi Gaza.
In addtion, seven Palestinians, including a child, have died of malnutrition-related causes in the Gaza Strip in the past 24 hours, the territory’s health ministry said on Wednesday. A total of 89 children have died of malnutrition since the war began in Gaza. The ministry said that 65 Palestinian adults have also died of malnutrition-related causes across Gaza since late June, when it started counting deaths among adults.
Israel’s military offensive has killed more than 60,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. Its count doesn’t distinguish between militants and civilians. The ministry operates under the Hamas government. The UN and other international organizations see it as the most reliable source of data on casualties.
