U.S. citizens will have access to charter flights out of Israel beginning Friday

The U.S. government announced it will provide charter flights for American citizens and their immediate families looking to leave Israel.

The flights, which are set to begin on Friday, will operate to locations in Europe where there is more commercial capacity across the Atlantic. U.S. citizens in Israel in need of assistance should complete the crisis intake form at travel.state.gov. 

“We are all acutely aware of limited availability right now on commercial flights out of Israel and the demand signal of U.S. citizens who may want to depart. The president has asked his team to ensure we are assisting U.S. citizens who do want to leave Israel in providing them with a safe means of doing that,” John Kirby, coordinator for strategic communications at the National Security Council said during a White House press briefing Thursday. “We’re also exploring other options to expand the capacity of doing this including exploring whether it’s possible to help Americans leave by land and by sea.” 

Kirby said that the State Department is still finalizing details of the plan and did not make more specifics available.

Travel disrupted: US airlines suspend flights to Israel as State Department urges caution

Paste BN reached out to the State Department and will update this story as details become available. 

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Zach Wichter is a travel reporter for Paste BN based in New York. You can reach him at zwichter@usatoday.com