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US State Department is suspending charter flights from Israel Tuesday due to lack of demand

30 October 2023 23:58 (UTC +04:00)

The US State Department is suspending charter flights for Americans out of Israel on Tuesday due to a lack of demand, State Department spokesperson Matt Miller said Monday, APA reports citing CNN.

Miller said that demand for the flights has “consistently” gone down, and a flight left on Sunday with only five passengers.

“We have consistently seen the demand for our charter flights go down to where we’ve had a lot of flights going out with 50% capability,” Miller said at a State Department briefing. “I think that the number of seats that we have offered, we've had something like 25% of them actually be filled.”

“We have notified everyone that the charter flight tomorrow is the last one that we are currently planning so if they do want to leave, now's the time to do it. Don't wait for another flight,” Miller said, but added that they would continue to “conduct assessments in real-time about whether there's additional demand.”

Meanwhile, Americans in Gaza continue to be trapped as the Rafah gate remains closed. US officials have blamed this squarely on Hamas.