The State Department said Sunday that American citizens and their immediate families will have the chance to leave Israel on Monday on chartered flights from Tel Aviv and by sea from Haifa as the conflict between Israel and Hamas intensified over the weekend.<\/p>\n
National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said Sunday he isn\u2019t aware whether Americans had been able to leave Gaza as Israel prepares a ground offensive. \u201cWe have not been able to get American citizens through the border crossing, and I\u2019m not aware of anyone else being able to get out at this time,\u201d he told NBC\u2019s Meet the Press<\/em>.<\/p>\n NBC News reported Sunday afternoon that foreign nationals, including 600 Americans, will be able to cross the border from Gaza to Egypt on Monday morning, citing a representative of the Palestinian embassy.<\/p>\n For the U.S., the critical thing is that there are safe places for civilians that won\u2019t be subject to military bombardment, where civilians can be physically safe and be able to get essentials like food, water, medicine, and shelter, Sullivan said Sunday.<\/p>\n Sullivan told CBS\u2019s Face the Nation<\/em> that the U.S. is also working to ensure that the broader civilian population of Gaza can get to safe areas and be protected from the fighting as it intensifies.<\/p>\n Since last week\u2019s attack by Hamas militants, Israel has declared war on Hamas and has bombarded the Gaza Strip with heavy airstrikes, and cut off water, food, medicine, and electricity to the territory. It ordered more than one million Palestinians in the northern Gaza Strip to evacuate. United Nations officials have called that \u201cimpossible. \u201d <\/p>\n Israel said that the attack killed 1,400, and that at least 155 others, including children, were captured by Hamas. The Gaza Health Ministry has said more than 2,670 Palestinians have been killed and 9,600 wounded since the fighting started last weekend.<\/p>\n Israeli Defense Forces Lieutenant Colonel Peter Lerner told ABC\u2019s This Week<\/em> that the evacuation of northern Gaza is a humanitarian measure to \u201ckeep people out of harm\u2019s way so that we can deal with Hamas,\u201d saying that Hamas has established checkpoints trying to keep people from leaving and told people to ignore orders to evacuate. \u201cThey have no regard for human life, Israeli or Palestinian.\u201d<\/p>\n Sullivan told CNN\u2019s State of the Union<\/em> that Israeli officials have said they have turned water supplies back on in southern Gaza, and Israel\u2019s minister of energy and water said that water had been restored at one point in Gaza. But aid workers and others in Gaza said they have not seen evidence that the water was back, the Associated Press reported.<\/p>\n U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken will return to Israel on Monday, after meeting with seven Arab leaders in six nations in an effort to prevent the Israel-Hamas war from spreading to other countries in the Middle East.\u00a0<\/p>\n On Sunday, he met with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Riyadh and later, Egypt\u2019s President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi, who told him that Israel\u2019s Gaza operation has exceeded \u201cthe right of self-defense\u201d and turned into \u201ca collective punishment,\u201d the AP reported, citing Egypt\u2019s state-run media.\u00a0<\/p>\n Blinken said after meeting with Al Sisi that the U.S. is confident that Egypt\u2019s border crossing with Gaza will be opened to allow humanitarian aid. \u201cWe\u2019re putting in place with the United Nations, with Egypt, with Israel a mechanism by which to get assistance in,\u201d he said, adding that U.S. envoy David Satterfield will be in Egypt on Monday to work out the details, Bloomberg reported.<\/p>\n State Department spokesman told reporters that Blinken was returning to Tel Aviv \u201cfor further consultations with Israeli officials,\u201d but didn\u2019t offer further details.\u00a0<\/p>\n Blinken in his meeting with Saudi Prince Mohammed \u201chighlighted the United States\u2019 unwavering focus on halting terrorist attacks by Hamas, securing the release of all hostages, and preventing the conflict from spreading,\u201d the State Department said. <\/p>\n Blinken had planned to go to Israel and Saudi Arabia this week amid ongoing negotiations to normalize relations between the two countries, but moved up his Israel meeting after the Oct. 7 Hamas attack.<\/p>\n Sullivan on Sunday said the U.S. still seeks a peaceful Middle East, but that \u201cfor the moment, the focus has to be on helping Israel defend itself against the brutal terrorism of Hamas.\u201d<\/p>\n Elsewhere, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.) and others were rushed to a shelter in Tel Aviv on Sunday morning amid a rocket attack by Hamas. The senators are in Israel ahead of President Joe Biden\u2019s expected request for Congress to approve wartime funding for Israel, in addition to more aid for Ukraine. \u201cIt shows you what Israelis have to go through,\u201d he said on X, formerly Twitter. \u201cWe must provide Israel with the support required to defend itself.\u201d<\/p>\n Schumer also said he will work with Senate Republicans in coming weeks to assemble a \u201cgenerous\u201d package of wartime aid for Israel, pledging to provide Israel with \u201cthe support required to fully defend itself from this monstrous attack.\u201d He said the package will include aid for Israel and Ukraine, along with possible aid for Taiwan, which is facing threats from China, and money for the U.S. border. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell has separately said that he wants war aid for the two countries tied together, along with aid for Taiwan, the AP reported.<\/p>\n The others on the Israeli trip are Sens. Mitt Romney (R., Utah), Bill Cassidy (R., La.), Jacky Rosen (D., Nev.), and Mark Kelly (D., Ariz.).<\/p>\n Sen. Lindsey Graham (R., S.C) announced a bipartisan Senate delegation will visit both Israel and Saudi Arabia amid the \u201cdrive to peace and normalization\u201d between the two countries.<\/p>\n Write to Janet H. Cho at janet.cho@dowjones.com<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n