Huckabee advises US citizens in Israel to evacuate via Egypt, noting ‘limited options’

US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee on Tuesday advised US citizens in Israel wishing to leave the country to do so via Egypt, hours after the US urged all of its citizens in the Middle East to immediately evacuate the region amid fighting with Iran.

Israel’s airspace has been shut since Saturday morning, when it launched its preemptive strikes on Iran, and — unlike during the June 2025 war — flights from neighboring Jordan have also been limited by Iranian retaliatory strikes.

In a video posted to social media on Tuesday, Huckabee said the Tourism Ministry is providing bus services from Herzliya, Tel Aviv, Haifa and Jerusalem to Taba, just across the border in Egypt. From there, he said, “limited” flights were available from the Taba International Airport, or ground transportation could be taken to Cairo, “where the airport is operating normally and efficiently.”

“The options are fairly limited,” Huckabee noted, a day after the US issued an urgent call for all of its citizens to evacuate all of the Middle East, including Egypt, “due to serious safety risks.”

The US ambassador pointed out that “the [Ben Gurion] airport is closed, of course, and we don’t know when it will be open or how many flights [will be available.]”

Huckabee said the embassy does not recommend travel through Jordan, “because of some challenges that are being faced there, the sporadic ability of the airport to be open, and the limited hours of the Allenby Crossing to get into Jordan.”

Watch my message to American citizens in Israel and be sure to register with the Smart Traveler Enrollment Program (STEP) to receive important security updates directly. >> https://t.co/8fk1kydTB2 pic.twitter.com/r4IV0WQFEk

— Ambassador Mike Huckabee (@USAmbIsrael) March 3, 2026

He reiterated the US directive for all citizens to register with the State Department’s Smart Traveler Enrollment Program (STEP) to receive updates.

Estimates suggest there are at least 200,000 American citizens in Israel, and up to a million potentially across the Middle East.

“We hope that all of this will be over soon,” Huckabee added in the video. “But how grateful we are for an amazing country and a great president who has decided that after 47 years of the hostile actions against the United States from Iran, that we are joining together, not just with Israel, but now it appears the rest of the Middle East, in saying, ‘enough is enough.'”

The US has not organized its own evacuation flights, and commercial flights have been disrupted across the region. Israel, Qatar, Syria, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait and Bahrain have all shuttered their airspace, while Jordan, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia have instituted partial closures, leaving thousands of flights canceled and tens of thousands of passengers stranded worldwide.

In a highly unusual statement on Monday, the State Department said that it “urges Americans to DEPART NOW from the countries below using available commercial transportation, due to serious safety risks.”

The affected areas were Israel, the West Bank and Gaza, Egypt, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Oman, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Qatar and Iran.

“Depart now via commercial means due to serious safety risks,” the State Department urged.

El Al said Monday that it was planning to operate flights from 22 destinations across Europe, the US, and Asia to repatriate Israelis stranded abroad once Ben Gurion Airport reopens. It was not immediately clear if it would also be operating outgoing flights.

Subject to approval by the government and security agencies, El Al is also considering offering flights chartered by KlasJet planes for El Al and Sundor customers from nearby destinations in Europe, to Taba airport in Egypt or Aqaba airport in Jordan. These flights will be offered free of charge for El Al and Sundor ticket holders.

Transportation Minister Miri Regev said Tuesday that aviation authorities are preparing to gradually reopen the country’s airspace in a phased manner starting next week, subject to security developments.

Sharon Wrobel contributed to this report.