US embassy in Israel authorizes non-essential staff, families to leave
The embassy said that non-essential staff and family members of diplomats serving in the country could leave due to aecurity risk, adding that US nationals should leave the country as as flights are available.
The US Embassy in Israel said on Friday it had authorized the departure of non-emergency US government personnel and family members of American officials from the mission due to safety risks. It also recommended that any US nationals who want to leave Israel do so "while commercial flights are available."
The drawdown comes on the heels of a third inconclusive round of talks between US and Iranian negotiators in Geneva and days before Secretary of State Marco Rubio is scheduled to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem. A US official told Al-Monitor that there is no change in his planned visit.
In a post on X, the US Embassy in Israel said that it "may further restrict or prohibit US government employees and their family members from traveling to certain areas of Israel, the Old City of Jerusalem, and the West Bank."
The message was published as the USS Gerald Ford aircraft carrier, the world's largest, was approaching the northern Israeli port of Haifa as tensions between the US and Iran escalated.
