(NewsNation) — Determined to help his fellow Americans, U.S. Rep. Cory Mills traveled to Israel to help evacuate those stuck in the country amid a war being waged against Hamas.
Mills, a Florida Republican, told NewsNation that in the past two days, he and his team were able to get 77 Americans on planes headed back to the states.
“I don’t care if you’re Israeli-American or Palestinian-American: If you’re American, I’m willing to get you home and I’m willing to do what is right,” Mills said Thursday on “CUOMO.”
Many commercial airlines, including American, United and Delta, have canceled flights out of Ben Gurion International Airport in Tel Aviv. The Biden administration said it will begin chartering flights Friday from Israel to destinations in Europe, where travelers can then carry on back to America.
Mills offered some criticism of the evacuation process thus far.
“If I can get 77 people out on my own, on my own dime, then how is it that the full might of the entire U.S. government under President Biden has gotten zero out to this point?” he said. “That in my opinion is just an absolute disaster.”
Some Americans have been able to get back, though, and one flight landed Thursday at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City.
Arriving home from Tel Aviv, Batsheva Aminov said being greeted by her mother was exactly what she needed after spending the last 16 days in Israel. The sounds of sirens and rockets filled the final days of her trip.
“It was really great in the beginning,” said Aminov, of Queens. “Then it got really scary. We had to go into the bomb shelters and hear the sirens. It was really petrifying.”
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken was in Israel on Thursday speaking with families of Americans who are believed to be held hostage by Hamas in Gaza. Neither the United States nor Israel have announced what, if any, plans exist to rescue the hostages.
Hamas has threatened to start killing them if Israel strikes targets in Gaza without first warning civilians.
NewsNation affiliate WPIX-TV contributed to this report.