Twenty-two University of Miami students are awaiting evacuation in Israel due to rising tensions between Iran and the Jewish state.
Participants were three weeks into an Onward Birthright Israel program, an eight-week internship in Tel Aviv. Students were relocated to a more secure location on Saturday, June 14, after escalating strikes between Israeli and Iranian forces.
All flights arriving and departing Israel are cancelled indefinitely. Students are scheduled to board a boat from Israel to Cyprus later this week where they will be flown back to the U.S. Participants have not received information regarding their return flights.
“This process could take a number of days, but you will be supported throughout the journey,” Birthright Israel Onward said in an email to participants and families. “What stands foremost in our minds is bringing you home safely — and we’re doing everything possible to ensure that.”
This is a developing story.
The story was originally published by The Miami Hurricane, the student newspaper of the University of Miami in Coral Gables, as part of an editorial content partnership with the WLRN newsroom.
