By Kanishka Singh and Simon Lewis
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The governor of Michigan has urged the U.S. government to do more to rescue Americans, many of them from Michigan, stuck in Lebanon amid Israel’s military offensive in the country.
“We are already hearing reports of confirmed deaths and fear there will be more. We cannot stand by while our constituents and their families are suffering,” Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer said in a letter to U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken. The letter, dated Tuesday, was shared with Reuters by her office on Thursday.
An American from Dearborn, Michigan, Kamel Ahmad Jawad, was killed in Lebanon in an Israeli airstrike on Tuesday, according to his daughter, friend and the U.S. congresswoman representing his constituency. Democratic U.S. Representative Rashida Tlaib’s office said he was a U.S. citizen.
In a post on X earlier on Thursday, Tlaib said the U.S. government’s “lack of urgency to get Americans out of Lebanon is shameful.”
Israel’s recent military campaign in Lebanon has killed hundreds, wounded thousands and displaced over a million. Israel says it is targeting Iran-backed Hezbollah militants.
A State Department spokesperson told reporters on Thursday that Washington was providing U.S. citizens with “as many options as possible to depart” Lebanon.
“We are working with airlines to block seats for U.S. citizens. We are also working to increase the commercial capacity by organizing additional flights,” the State Department spokesperson said, adding over 250 Americans, including their eligible family members, had taken such flights so far.
The department said on Wednesday around 7,000 U.S. citizens in Lebanon had registered with the U.S. government to receive information about leaving the country, although not all of those were looking for assistance to leave.
Washington has faced criticism for its support of its ally Israel, which is also waging a war in Gaza in which tens of thousands have been killed and nearly all of the enclave’s 2.3 million population displaced.
(Reporting by Kanishka Singh and Simon Lewis in Washington: editing by Neil Fullick)
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