The inaugural flight carrying American citizens from Israel touched down in Florida on Sunday, marking the implementation of an executive order issued by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. This order, which was issued last week, aimed to facilitate the rescue of Floridian residents caught in Israel during the hostilities involving the Palestinian militant group Hamas.
According to The Hill, Governor DeSantis’s office disclosed that approximately 300 American evacuees who were stranded in Israel due to flight cancellations arrived in Florida on Sunday. Out of these evacuees, over 270 landed in Tampa, with an additional seven arriving in Orlando, and they received support from various state agencies as per the governor’s announcement.
In a social media post on X (formerly Twitter), Governor DeSantis expressed his welcome for the nearly 300 Americans who had been in Israel since the outbreak of violent confrontations initiated by Hamas terrorists the previous week.
The rescue efforts were aided by Project Dynamo, a non-profit organization with a focus on evacuating American citizens from conflict zones. The Florida Division of Emergency Management is expected to organize additional flights to transport supplies to Israel and bring more Floridians back to their home state.
Furthermore, Governor DeSantis’s office declared its intention to provide humanitarian assistance to Israel by sending medical supplies, hygiene products, clothing, and children’s toys for those affected by the ongoing violence.
Governor DeSantis, who is also a contender in the 2024 Republican presidential primary race, has consistently condemned Hamas’s attacks on Israel, aligning himself with other American lawmakers, global leaders, and organizations who have also expressed their disapproval. These attacks have tragically claimed the lives of over 1,400 Israelis, primarily during the initial surprise assaults on Israeli villages, farms, and military outposts commencing on October 7.
Israel responded swiftly with a significant counteroffensive, involving hundreds of airstrikes in the Gaza Strip over the past week. These airstrikes forced hundreds of thousands of Palestinians out of their homes and into shelters.
As of the latest update, the Gaza Health Ministry reported that at least 2,670 Palestinians have lost their lives in the ongoing conflict, with an additional 9,600 suffering injuries. These figures have exceeded the casualty toll from the 2014 Gaza war, which extended for more than six weeks, making it the deadliest of the five Gaza conflicts for both sides.
The situation is further exacerbated by Israel’s restrictions on the flow of food, water, and medical supplies into Gaza. Israeli forces issued evacuation orders for over 1.1 million people in Gaza, nearly half of the territory’s population, ahead of an anticipated ground assault on the region.
These evacuation measures and the siege have been widely criticized by humanitarian agencies like the World Health Organization (WHO), which has described the evacuations from northern Gaza as a “death sentence” for the sick and injured.
Governor DeSantis addressed Israel’s counteroffensive, asserting that it does not constitute “collective punishment” for the 2.3 million Palestinians residing in the Gaza Strip. When asked about his stance on collective punishment during an interview on CBS News’s “Face the Nation,” DeSantis explained, “It’s not collective punishment. Hamas is the one responsible for creating this predicament by using civilian targets for their operations.”
Over the weekend, Governor DeSantis faced criticism for remarks made on the campaign trail in which he referred to all Palestinians in Gaza as “antisemitic.” He argued that the United States should not accept Palestinian refugees fleeing Gaza or any Palestinian Arabs, emphasizing that Palestinian Arabs should seek refuge in Arab countries.
During the “Face the Nation” interview, DeSantis further contended that the education system in the Gaza Strip teaches children to harbor animosity towards Jews and that admitting large numbers of refugees would increase anti-Semitism and anti-American sentiment in the United States.