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- Cruise Ship Collides With Dock at Turkish Port
- Gaza hospitals are running out of fuel, Palestinian Red Crescent says
- Helping leisure selling travel agents successfully manage their at-home business.
- Thousands of Americans stranded in Israel evacuated by cruise ship
- NYC HS soccer game canceled after dozens of migrants refuse to leave the field -- even after cops showed up
- October 15, 2023 Israel-Hamas war news
- Cruise Industry News Email Alerts
The journey is estimated to take about hours, with food and Wi-Fi available during the evacuation voyage. Speaking to CNN’s Erin Burnett from Ramallah in the West Bank, Palestinian Red Crescent Director General Marwan Jilani said food, water, medicine, and fuel are in critically short supply. Without mentioning Israel, he said, “the right to self-defence should be exercised in compliance with international humanitarian law and not at the expense of innocent civilian casualties,” according to a Chinese Foreign Ministry readout.
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It is unclear if the U.S. has plans for any further emergency evacuations from Israel. All the major cruise lines last week suspended their port calls, as did most commercial airlines. It was reported that MSC Cruises chartered an Israeli-owned cruise ship, Crown Iris (40,000 gross tons), and on Sunday the cruise ship spent about 10 hours in Haifa disembarking Israelis that had been on an MSC cruise when the war broke out. The embassy announcement said the sea journey to Limassol would take approximately 10 to 12 hours, that each traveler would be permitted to bring a 50-pound (22.5-kilogram) suitcase and carry-on bag, and that pets would not be permitted to board. Food and Wi-Fi will be provided on the ship, the announcement said, and upon arrival in Limassol, buses will transport travelers to the country’s international airports in Larnaca and Paphos.
Cruise Ship Collides With Dock at Turkish Port
The Odyssey of the Seas, the cruise line's newest ship, had planned sailings from Haifa beginning June 2 and continuing through October. Instead of sailing from Israel, the ship will spend its inaugural season with sailings in Florida. While air travel to and from Israel had come to a screeching halt, notably with major U.S. airlines temporarily suspending their flights to Tel Aviv, a cruise ship was the most viable alternative. In a letter to employees, Royal Caribbean Group CEO Jason Liberty announced that Rhapsody of the Seas would be used to safely evacuate American citizens. The ship had its sailings in the region canceled after the Hamas attack from Gaza Strip on Israel last week and the Israeli response that together have left thousands of Israelis and Palestinians dead. Its cruise ship, the Rhapsody of the Seas (78,878 gross tons) which had been idled in Cyprus, was dispatched to Haifa overnight.
Gaza hospitals are running out of fuel, Palestinian Red Crescent says
When the conflict between Israel and Hamas initially erupted, RCI began canceling scheduled cruises that were meant to operate to and from Israel. In a span of less than a week, the cruise line canceled the remaining portion of the Israel cruise season, which was centered around the Rhapsody of the Seas. The Rhapsody had initially planned to offer cruises from Haifa to the Greek islands through early November. Embassy personnel were trying to guide the process, but at times recommended people leave and return later in smaller groups. They were being told that food and Wi-Fi would be available onboard and the U.S. consular staff would be traveling to assist the people evacuating from Israel.
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"We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel," he added. On Friday, the Iran-backed militia Hezbollah fired 40 rockets into Israel from its Lebanon base, some of which were shot down by Israel's Iron Dome defenses, reports said. Iran's Revolutionary Guard also seized an Israeli-affiliated container ship near the Strait of Hormuz on Saturday, adding to the tensions in the region. Both sources said Iran had been moving military assets, including drones and missiles, in preparation for a possible attack on the Jewish state. In March, Royal Caribbean committed to "fully-vaccinated" for sailings on Odyssey of the Seas.
There were also widespread Palestinian protests Friday in the occupied West Bank, where Israeli forces shot and killed 11 people. Since Monday night, Hamas has fired hundreds of rockets into Israel, which has pounded the Gaza Strip with strikes. In Gaza, at least 139 people have been killed, including 39 children and 22 women; in Israel, eight people have been killed, including a man killed by a rocket that hit in Ramat Gan, a suburb of Tel Aviv, on Saturday. Royal Caribbean has canceled the remainder of the season from Haifa, Isreal. The flight was organized by an international rescue nonprofit group called Project Dynamo.
"Due to the unrest in Israel and the region, Odyssey has not been able to complete the preparations required to operate from Haifa as planned," the cruise line said in a release provided by spokesperson Lyan Sierra-Caro. Explorethe latest travel news, advice, updates, upcoming exclusive deals and more. Also this weekend, the first of what Gov. Ron DeSantis said would be several rescue charter flight arrived in Tampa, bringing with it 270 passengers from Israel, most of whom were Americans. The cruise line did not say to were the ship would head after departing Israel.
October 15, 2023 Israel-Hamas war news
One of the people said that US officials believe Iran could be readying as many as 100 cruise missiles for an attack, the report said. "Due to the unrest in Israel and the region, we have not been able to complete the preparation required to operate," the cruise line said on May 15 in its updated suspended sailings list. Royal Caribbean has canceled a series of fully vaccinated cruises from Israel amid the surging Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Department of State, Rhapsody of the Seas arrived in Israel early Monday morning to evacuate Americans and their immediate family members with valid travel credentials. The State Department said Sunday the number of Americans killed in the conflict since it began has risen to 30, and that it believed several Americans were among the nearly 200 people Hamas kidnapped after the surprise attack on Oct. 7. Israel has long accused Iran of engaging in a form of proxy war by backing groups — including Hamas — that have launched attacks on its shores.
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Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Sunday reiterated Beijing’s support for an independent Palestinian state as a way out of the conflict in Israel and Gaza. As the conflict reaches unprecedented heights, protests in support of both Israelis and Palestinians have been seen around the world — some resulting in violent clashes. About half a million people have left northern Gaza for the south following Israel's evacuation notice on Friday, an Israel Defense Forces spokesperson said Sunday. Travelers have been asked to sign an “Evacuee Manifest and Promissory Note” as an agreement to repay the US government for the cost of the evacuation travel, though the costs of the travel are not immediately available. In Cyprus, American evacuees will be able to board commercial flights to take them the rest of the way home.
The Combined Maritime Force (CMF) CTF 150 which is currently being led by the Canadians reports India recently undertook its first interdiction of illicit narcotics as a member of CMF. The Indian frigate Talwar contributed to Focused Operation Crimson Barracuda which CTF was undertaking to interrupt the smuggling of illicit narcotics in the Arabian Sea. Under normal circumstances, Rhapsody of the Seas can accommodate 1,998 guests for a typical cruise at double occupancy, and up to 2,416 travelers when fully booked with all berths filled. This is not a typical situation, however, and the numbers of evacuees are yet unknown. The passage from Haifa to Limassol Port in Cyprus was expected to take between 10 and 12 hours, with food and internet service available to passengers on board.
That voyage is a 14-night transatlantic cruise to Fort Lauderdale, visiting Alicante, Malaga, the Canary Islands, and Freeport in the Bahamas along the way. The 78,878-gross-ton, Vision-class Rhapsody of the Seas is currently homeported from Haifa, Israel, but the remainder of the ship’s Mediterranean season has been cancelled due to the regional violence. With no sailings for the next few weeks, the ship is available to assist in such emergency evacuation options. The US has responded to the latest threat with plans to dispatch its warships, including the aircraft carrier the USS Dwight D Eisenhower, a cruiser, and two destroyers, closer to Israel, reports said. Royal Caribbean had been eyeing the chance to offer sailings from Israel "for quite some time," Michael Bayley, Royal Caribbean's president and CEO, said in a March press release.
Evacuating in style: US sends cruise ship to get Its citizens out of Israel - The Jerusalem Post
Evacuating in style: US sends cruise ship to get Its citizens out of Israel.
Posted: Tue, 17 Oct 2023 07:00:00 GMT [source]
The American Embassy in Jerusalem announced on its website that it was facilitating the departure of Americans and their immediate family members with valid travel documents from Haifa, arranging for their transportation to nearby Cyprus. US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan on Sunday warned of the risk of a wider regional conflict in the Middle East as Israel pounds Gaza with airstrikes in response to Hamas' unprecedented surprise attacks. Shelters are overloaded and the area is experiencing shortages of food, water and fuel.
Hospitals in Gaza are under constant bombardment and facing imminent shutdown due to a lack of fuel, a Palestinian humanitarian official said Sunday. In a separate call with Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, Wang called for a ceasefire, the opening of humanitarian aid routes to Gaza and the resumption of dialogue between Israel and Palestinian authorities. On Sunday, Israel's ambassador to the United Nations told CNN water has been turned back on in southern Gaza, but he didn't say if electricity was on for desalination. Shelters in southern Gaza are overloaded, with shortages of crucial supplies, as tens of thousands of people flee from Israeli airstrikes on the north of the coastal enclave, a UN official said Sunday. The evacuation advisory came after Israel imposed a complete siege on Gaza.
The cruise line has said that 100% of crew will be required to be fully vaccinated, Sierra-Caro told USA TODAY. However, Royal Caribbean has not yet announced vaccine protocol for passengers sailing from the United States. Michael Bayley, president and CEO of Royal Caribbean International, said in the release that while the decision was challenging to make that the safety of passengers, crew and the communities the cruise line visits remains priority. Several foreigners in the country were stranded as airlines canceled service to the beleaguered country. The US Embassy reported that the boarding process commenced on Monday morning, and the ship Rhapsody of the Seas was assigned to transport Americans to Limassol Cyprus.
Department of State in the assisted departure of American citizens,” said a statement from Royal Caribbean. Local time and was available on a first-come, first-served basis, according to embassy officials. The US Embassy in Israel announced the evacuation plan Sunday, offering the 2,500 Americans and their immediate family members still in Israel a chance to leave by sea. Tensions between Israel and Iran have ramped up since Israel's military campaign in the Gaza Strip, following the October 7 terrorist attacks, when Hamas militants killed an estimated 1,200 people in Israel.
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