Live Update
From the Liveblog of
Monday, October 30, 2023
State Department says US to halt charter flights for Americans leaving Israel
Jacob Magid is The Times of Israel's US bureau chief

Passengers look at a departure board at Ben Gurion Airport near Tel Aviv, as flights are canceled and delayed because of a massive surprise attack by Hamas, on October 7, 2023. (Gil Cohen-Magen/AFP)
US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller says Washington will cease operating charter flights for civilians looking to flee Israel during the war due to a lack of demand.
“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 says. “I think that the number of seats that we have offered, we’ve had something like 25% of them actually be filled.”