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Americans evacuated from Israel arrive in Tampa

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Updated  June 19, 2025 1:02pm EDT
Tampa
FOX 13 News
Americans evacuated from Israel arrive in Tampa

Americans evacuated from Israel arrive in Tampa

Ariel Plasencia reports.

The Brief

    • The first of several flights chartered by Governor Ron DeSantis to rescue Americans in Israel landed Thursday morning at TPA.
    • The Florida Division of Emergency Management says flights are ongoing.
    • The nonprofit Grey Bull Rescue is helping the state with rescue operations too.

TAMPA, Fla. - The state of Florida has rescued more than 160 Americans from Israel, according to the Florida Division of Emergency Management as of Thursday morning. It comes as the country’s conflict with Iran intensifies.

The U.S. State Department issued a level four do-not-travel advisory for Israel on Monday, the highest travel warning possible.

The backstory:

Gov. Ron DeSantis chartered several flights to Tampa. The first flight arrived on Thursday just before 7 a.m. 

The Americans fled from Israel to Cyprus on a cruise ship earlier this week. From there, the Florida Division of Emergency Management helped coordinate flights.

Many of the flights will bring around 1,500 Jewish Americans on Birthright Israel trips home through Tampa International Airport. Birthright Israel funds trips to the country largely for young Jewish adults.

A woman whose son was leading a Birthright Israel trip in Israel said she can now breathe a sigh of relief after her son landed Thursday.

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"I'm just overwhelmed," she said. "He's a staff member. This is probably his tenth trip to Israel, and so he had to be calm for the kids because he had a group of 30 with him. I’m just elated that he's finally back on U.S. soil, and we're very thankful, you know, when we got word from him. He said ‘Ron DeSantis is flying us to Tampa,’ and that's all we got because the signal was very spotty and here they are. It has been crazy," she said. 

She lives in Boca Raton, and is hoping her son, who lives in Colorado, will stay with her for the weekend to celebrate his homecoming.

The nonprofit Grey Bull Rescue is also working with the state of Florida to rescue Americans. They say they conducted 222 missions on Wednesday alone. 

What's next:

State officials say evacuation flights remain ongoing. The governor’s office and Florida Sen. Jay Collins, R- Tampa, urged Americans in need of evacuation from Israel to fill out the evacuation assistance form from Grey Bull Rescue on the state’s Division of Emergency Management’s website.

Sen. Collins wrote on X earlier this week that he was on the way to Israel to help with evacuation efforts. 

Another flight is expected at TPA Thursday evening.

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