DeSantis says Florida will help evacuate more Americans from Israel

Sonia Delgado spent more than eight hours at the Cyprus Larnaca airport and learned that the Florida-funded rescue air force to the United States had not come that night.

The Atlanta residents went to Tel Aviv, Israel, and went with their daughter and Jewish best friend. They were among the first to flee, assisted by the rescue of the state and Tampa nonprofit Grable, as air sirens began to ring last week due to a strike between Israel and Iran.

Delgado said each leg of the trip over the next few days hit the road. She spent six hours waiting on foot to cross the border into Jordan. She thought she would not be able to leave the airport in Amman, Jordan.

Delgado and hundreds more evacuees arrived in Cyprus, but then the return flight to the province was delayed until the next morning. Finding the hotel was a scramble, she said, and three dozen people were sleeping at the airport.

“It’s like everyone has lost their faith at this point,” she said.

However, at about 5:30am on Friday, Delgado finally landed in Tampa.

Brian Stern, who founded the Gray Bull rescue in 2021 to rescue Americans from conflict zones overseas in 2021, warned evacuees that the roads aren’t easy.

“He said from the start, ‘This won’t be smooth. I’m not an Uber,” Delgado said.

Florida has funded two rescue flights to Tampa, with around 300 passengers funding two rescue flights, Gov. Ron DeSantis said at a press conference Friday morning. The state also coordinated passenger ferries to evacuate more than 1,100 more Americans, he said.

But the call for assistance has only just begun, said a Grey Bull Rescue volunteer. More than 4,600 people have sent non-profit assistance requests for evacuation assistance, said Andrew Wilson, a volunteer and member of the organization’s board of directors.

“Evacuation flights are still ongoing as part of Florida’s unprecedented mission to bring residents home,” DeSantis said. “This operation will continue 24/7 with safety and happiness for Americans and Floridians as our number one priority.”

But Olivia Lafran, chief case manager at Gray Bull Rescue, said the state would “really be in the air” if it would fund more missions. In the past, the state only paid for flights to Florida, she said. For missions arriving on Friday morning, the state is also covering hotels and buses across Israeli borders, Lafran said.

Delgado’s experience shows that logistics can easily collapse amidst airspace closures and other disruptions in escalating conflict.

Earlier this week, Israel, an organization that funds travel to the country for young Jewish adults, announced that DeSantis would be sending four charter planes to Cyprus to save hundreds of participants who fled to the cruise ship.

According to a report from CBS 12 on Wednesday, only one of the planes appeared. The remaining participants had to book commercial flights at home, including the son of Gillian Marcus, a South Florida resident, she told the Tampa Bay Times in an email.

“Unfortunately… flights organized by the US Embassy have not arrived and the process has not disappeared as smoothly or quickly as expected,” Israel said in a statement provided to CBS 12.

DeSantis was not addressing Israel’s birthright flight with his prepared remarks. The flight that arrived in Tampa on Friday morning was not part of the program.

Evacuees gathered near Airside F at Tampa International Airport and hurried off to check in on their next flight. Some were back in New York and the West Coast.

Tallahassee residents Sarah and Rev. John Hall led a group of 19, primarily Christians, on educational trips from Florida to Israel. They were gathering in Jerusalem and staying near the Dead Sea in eastern Israel when they were told to take the bus on Tuesday morning.

They went for days with mostly food, water and minimal bathroom breaks, Sarah Hall said.

“We had a lot of trauma,” she said. “It was a great way for my Israeli friends to learn what life has been like over the last few years.”

State Sens. Jay Collins, R. Tampa, were on the Middle Eastern ground supporting evacuees, Stern said. The Florida Emergency Management Department and the State Transportation Department and hired contractors work with Gray Bull to help coordinate rescue missions from Israel.

In October 2023, the state helped evacuate about 700 Americans from Israel to Florida, the Governor’s Office said.