The first State Department evacuation flight from Israel landed in Athens on Friday afternoon, where its passengers were greeted on the tarmac by U.S. Ambassador to Greece Kim Guilfoyle.
The approximately 50 individuals consisted mainly of family members of U.S. Embassy staff and government employees, who had been stranded in Israel for the past week amid widespread flight cancellations as Iran continues to launch missiles and drones at the country and around the region.
A Jewish community leader who was on the flight, and requested not to be identified by name to discuss a sensitive security situation, told Jewish Insider that the evacuation effort was run “as efficiently and easy as possible.”
They said about a dozen embassy employees have been assisting evacuees with finding places to stay in Athens and booking flights back to the U.S. — and doing so quickly as the flight landed just hours before Shabbat.
“Some of us had very short notice” that they were selected for the flight, the source said, after they had filled out the required crisis intake form with the State Department.
“Hopefully this is the first of many flights able to take off,” they continued. The State Department is “working to get more flights up in the air as soon as possible to get [all Americans] home as soon as possible. It was an easy experience for us.”
The U.S. is working to evacuate its citizens from several countries around the Middle East. The State Department announced that its first charter flight from the region arrived back in the U.S. on Thursday, and nearly 20,000 Americans have been able to return home. President Donald Trump praised the mission on Friday morning, writing on Truth Social, “We are moving thousands of people out of various. Countries throughout the Middle East. It is being done quietly, but seamlessly.”
While the flight out of Israel ran smoothly, some of the first repatriation flights carrying Israelis who had been stranded abroad were briefly held mid-flight on Thursday as Iranian missiles were fired at central Israel.