U.S. authorizes voluntary departures from Israel as tensions with Iran rise

The U.S. Department of State authorized the departure of non-emergency U.S. government personnel and family members from Mission Israel on Feb. 27, 2026, citing “safety risks,” the embassy advisory said. The move allows affected staff and dependents to choose whether to leave and urged them to act while commercial air service remains available.

U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee sent an email to mission staff urging those who wished to depart to act without delay. NBC News reported it had seen the email and said it instructed affected staff to “do so TODAY.” Xinhua, citing U.S. media reports, quoted the message as advising staff to “Focus on getting a seat to anywhere from which you can then continue travel to Washington, but the first priority will be getting expeditiously out of the country.” Anadolu Agency cited The New York Times reporting that Huckabee told staff it was “vital to leave the country immediately if they wish to do so.”

The advisory was explicit that it did not amount to an ordered evacuation. Reuters noted the authorized departure was voluntary and contrasted it with an “ordered departure” that had been instituted earlier in the week for some personnel at the U.S. Embassy in Beirut. The embassy advisory, as reported by multiple outlets, warned that “in response to security incidents and without advance notice, the U.S. Embassy may further restrict or prohibit U.S. government employees and their family members from traveling to certain areas of Israel, the Old City of Jerusalem, and the West Bank.”

While the advisory itself referred only to unspecified “safety risks,” news organizations placed the action in the context of heightened tensions between Washington and Tehran. Reuters reported that the decision followed a round of Washington-Tehran talks in Geneva that ended on Thursday with no breakthrough and came as the U.S. has assembled what it described as one of its largest military deployments in the region. Reuters also cited Iranian threats to strike American bases if Iran is attacked and warned that any escalation could draw in Israel; the agency recalled a 12-day war in June between the two adversaries.

The State Department’s guidance also warned that commercial travel could be disrupted and advised personnel to consider leaving while flights operate. CBS News quoted the advisory: “Persons may wish to consider leaving Israel while commercial flights are available.” NBC reported that airlines, including KLM, had announced plans to suspend flights out of Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion International Airport, a development that could sharply reduce exit options for civilians and foreign nationals.

Several other governments have taken parallel steps. CBS and other outlets reported that Australia told dependents of its diplomats in Israel and nearby Lebanon to depart and offered voluntary departures in other Gulf posts, while countries including India, Brazil and Singapore, as well as multiple European states and China, issued travel warnings or urged citizens to leave Iran or the region.

The U.S. embassy advisory did not detail specific threats that prompted the authorized departure, and news outlets noted the text did not name Iran. The voluntary pullback and the accompanying travel cautions are likely to complicate the lives of embassy families and local staff and could disrupt consular services and humanitarian operations if commercial routes are curtailed. Officials have so far not elaborated on the precise security incidents that prompted the advisory.