Latest news with #GreyBullRescue
Miami Herald
2 hours ago
- Politics
- Miami Herald
‘Living on pins and needles.' Second rescue flight from Israel lands in Florida
A second rescue flight carrying Floridians and other Americans stranded in Israel amid the ongoing conflict with Iran landed in Tampa early Friday, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said. 'There are going to be more folks that are going to be rescued,' said DeSantis, calling the evacuation missions the 'most logistically challenging rescues' the state has done during his time as governor. This is 'an ongoing effort.' The state is working with several groups, including Tampa-based and veteran-led Grey Bull Rescue, to coordinate evacuation and rescue efforts as commercial flights to and from Israel are halted. Florida Sen. Jay Collins from Tampa, a retired Green Beret, is in Israel assisting the rescue group with the evacuation efforts. So far, Florida has flown over 300 people and 'we have put on a passenger ferry over 1,000 more,' said Kevin Guthrie, executive director of Florida's Division of Emergency Management, which oversees the state's response to hurricanes and other disasters. The people rescued have included families, veterans and college students. Guthrie said state officials and the rescue groups would not discuss logistic details of the rescue operations, citing safety issues for the people being evacuated and the rescuers. What a Broward man says about the rescue Broward County resident Josh Hammer, a Newsweek senior editor-at-large and host of 'The Josh Hammer Show' podcast, was one of many who arrived early Friday to Tampa. Hammer, who lives in Hallandale Beach, went to Israel about a week and half ago with his family and 6-month old baby girl to attend a family wedding. Then the airstrikes began. We were 'living on pins and needles for the sirens to go off,' with just '90 seconds to two minutes' to run into a bomb shelter, he said. 'The whole week has just been a total blur,' Hammer said at a Friday news conference. 'I feel like I'm not even here right now, physically.' Hammer shared more of his family's harrowing experience on the social media site X, which included crossing the border into Jordan and flying to Cyprus, an island nation in the Mediterranean Sea, before finally boarding a flight to Florida. 'Suffice it to say this was not the trip we had in mind. The past week has been absolutely crazy — especially with a six-month-old baby girl,' he said his post. 'None of this has been easy, to put it mildly. We will have some crazy stories for our daughter one day. Her first official passport stamp, humorously, is Jordan, since Israel doesn't stamp passports anymore.' Earlier this week, the U.S. State Department raised its travel advisory for Israel to Level 4, its highest level, and is warning U.S. citizens to not travel to the country 'due to armed conflict, terrorism, and civil unrest.' The West Bank and Gaza are also under the 'Do Not Travel' Level 4 advisory. This is the second time the DeSantis administration has helped get stranded Floridians out of Israel during conflict in the Middle East. In 2023, during the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the state helped fly out nearly 700 Americans from Israel. Florida is directing Americans who need help to get out of Israel to fill out a form at
CBS News
7 hours ago
- Politics
- CBS News
Americans fleeing Israel arrive in Tampa, greeted by Gov. DeSantis
Florida is helping Americans stranded in Israel get home. Gov. Ron DeSantis said evacuation flights are underway and so far the state has rescued more than 160 Americans. Early Friday morning, DeSantis was at Tampa International Airport to greet passengers on two rescue flights. The governor said the mission will continue. "The reality is that there will be more folks that are going to be rescued. This is an ongoing effort. I know that potentially there are some other states that want to get in the game at this point. The reality is that there is definitely a need for more. I know we helped get people out of Israel initially which is important, I don't know when Ben Gurion Airport is going to open again. It may not open for some time," he said. DeSantis said the state is leading the effort to get people home, especially college students from Florida who are stuck in israel. Americans stranded in Israel can fill out an emergency evacuation form from Grey Bull Rescue, a Tampa nonprofit that helps rescue citizens in conflict zones.
Yahoo
13 hours ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Rescue group ramps up evacuations of Americans in Israel
(NewsNation) — Demand is surging for a U.S. rescue organization's services as thousands of Americans seek to leave Israel during the country's ongoing conflict with Iran. 'In the rescue game, every day's an adventure. Most of us haven't slept in three or four days, including myself,' Bryan Stern, founder of Grey Bull Rescue Foundation, told 'Elizabeth Vargas Reports' on Thursday while updating his group's efforts to get Americans to safety. He said about 5,000 'pretty desperate' travelers have asked for assistance in exiting Israel as the U.S. State Department urges people not to travel to the Holy Land. Trump has reviewed attack plans on Iran: Source 'I do agree with the State Department — it's time for everyone to go,' Stern said. 'The situation's going to get worse, not better. The risk is certainly increasing, not decreasing. … You could always come back.' Because airspace is restricted, Stern's organization, which is staffed by military veterans like himself, must make arrangements by land or sea for the evacuations. The latter option is not optimum, he said. 'Maritime operations are hard, and I'm not really a fan of them, to be frank. Bad things happen on the water. Engines break. People get sick. People drown,' Stern said. 'The land and the air are far safer and more forgiving.' For information about how to help support Grey Bull Rescue Foundation, check out the organization's website. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Miami Herald
a day ago
- General
- Miami Herald
With no flights in or out of Israel, here's how stranded Floridians are getting home
The State of Florida and a group of nonprofits are rushing to bring back Americans stranded in Israel while commercial flights to and from the country are halted amid the conflict between Israel and Iran. The confrontation began Friday after Israel launched a surprise wave of airstrikes targeting Iran nuclear and military sites, top generals and nuclear scientists, the Associated Press reported. Bryan Stern, founder of Grey Bull Rescue, one of the groups coordinating rescue efforts with the state of Florida, said during an online news conference Thursday that there are several college students from Florida and other states who are waiting to be evacuated, including from Florida State University in Tallahassee. A group of 22 University of Miami students who were participating in an internship program in Tel Aviv are some of the people awaiting to be evacuated, according to The Miami Hurricane, the University of Miami's student newspaper. Arielle Green, 22, a UM student who was in the final week of her internship in Israel, told Miami Herald news partner CBS Miami that she recently woke up in the middle of the night to a missile alert blaring on her phone. She rushed to a nearby bomb shelter, where she and other students remained for nearly an hour. 'We're like waiting there and a bunch of Israelis on the street, near a bar, joined us,' she told the news station. 'We were sitting on the floor on mattresses and waiting until we got some sort of signal to leave.' The Miami Herald has contacted the University of Miami for more information. The students are in a safe location and are expected to be flown home by early next week, according to CBS Miami. State of Florida coordinating rescue efforts in Israel Florida's Division of Emergency Management, which is in charge of overseeing the state's response to hurricanes and other disasters, posted on Facebook Sunday that it's 'coordinating efforts to assist Americans seeking evacuation from the hostile situation in Israel.' 'If you or someone you know needs help returning home, visit: reads the post. The link directs people to fill out an evacuation assistance form from Tampa-based Grey Bull Rescue, a veteran-led team that helps rescue people from dangerous situations. Grey Bull Rescue has received over 4,000 evacuation requests and expects to hit 6,000 requests by Saturday, according to Stern, who founded the group several years ago. Stern said all of the rescue flights Grey Bull has coordinated so far with DeSantis have been 'successful' and that it has several other flights in the works. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has so far chartered at least four jets to fly nearly 1,500 Jewish Americans, who fled Israel to Cyprus via cruise ship, into Tampa, with Birthright Israel paying for all its participants' transportation costs, according to the Tampa Bay Times. South Florida resident Danielle Gozlan and her family had to travel across the Jordanian border to catch a flight that landed at Miami International Airport Thursday morning, according to WSVN. 'We couldn't find another way back we signed up for different ways—evacuation, rescue ways—and it just didn't work out for us so we had to go through Jordan. We had to get back home,' Gozlan told WSVN. 'It was really hard, especially for the kids, hearing the sirens go off every so often. It was really hard.' This isn't the first time the state of Florida has helped coordinate rescue efforts when there's been escalating conflict in the Middle East. In October 2023, at the start of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis reported that nearly 700 Americans were flown to Florida on four flights from Israel that were coordinated with Project DYNAMO, a veteran-led Tampa-based nonprofit that conducts rescue missions in conflict zones. On Tuesday, Project DYNAMO announced that it had 'completed its first successful evacuations of Americans out of Israel' during this latest conflict in the Middle East, including 30 veterans who were on a retreat in Jerusalem with South Florida non-profit Heroes to Heroes. This article will be updated.
Miami Herald
2 days ago
- Politics
- Miami Herald
Americans fleeing Israel fly to Tampa on flights chartered by DeSantis
Gov. Ron DeSantis chartered four jets to bring almost 1,500 Jewish Americans on a Birthright Israel trip home through Tampa International Airport as the country's conflict with Iran intensifies. The American participants fled from Israel to Cyprus, an island nation in the Mediterranean Sea, via cruise ship. There, they were to board flights bound for Tampa, according to a statement from Birthright Israel, which funds trips to the country, largely for young Jewish adults. The Florida Division of Emergency Management wrote on Facebook Sunday that it is 'actively coordinating efforts to assist Americans seeking evacuation from the hostile situation in Israel.' Birthright Israel said it will pay for all its participants' transportation costs. Two local nonprofits are helping rescue stranded Americans. Sierra Dean, a spokesperson for the governor, urged other Americans stranded in Israel to fill out an emergency evacuation form from Grey Bull Rescue, a Tampa nonprofit that helps rescue citizens in conflict zones. State Sen. Jay Collins, R-Tampa, wrote on X Sunday that he was 'en route to Israel to assist the State of Florida and Grey Bull Rescue with evacuation efforts.' Project Dynamo, another Tampa nonprofit, also has teams on the ground in Israel and Jordan to help evacuate Americans, according to Fox 13. Ashley Pontius, a spokesperson for Grey Bull Rescue, said she'll announce when the first flights to Tampa are scheduled to arrive later today. In October 2023, at the start of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, DeSantis' office said they had flown nearly 700 Americans from Israel to Florida. Then, a multi-agency resource center was established at Tampa International to coordinate state resources and nonprofit support, according to the Governor's Office. A spokesperson for Tampa International referred a request for comment to the Florida Department of Transportation. The department did not respond in time for publication.
