U.S. urges Americans to flee Lebanon, accuses Hamas of blocking Americans from leaving Gaza

The State Department on Sunday night urged U.S. citizens to depart from Lebanon because of an “unpredictable security situation” while accusing Hamas of blocking Americans from fleeing Gaza ahead of an expected Israeli offensive.

“To date, at least, Hamas has blocked them (Americans) from leaving, showing once again its total disregard for civilians of any kind who are stuck in Gaza," Secretary of State Antony Blinken told CBS News.

Meanwhile, the State Department's Bureau of Consular Affairs posted an urgent alert Sunday night to X, formerly known as Twitter, to Americans in Lebanon.

"U.S. citizens who wish to depart Lebanon should leave now, due to the unpredictable security situation," the department tweeted. "There are still commercial flights available, but there is reduced capacity."

The post gave readers resources, including flight options from Beirut–Rafic Hariri International Airport.

"The Department of State urges U.S. citizens not to travel to Lebanon," the U.S. Embassy in Lebanon added. "We recommend that U.S. citizens in Lebanon make appropriate arrangements to leave the country; commercial options currently remain available."

"We recommend that U.S. citizens who choose not to depart prepare contingency plans for emergency situations," the embassy said.

For his part, Blinken urged Israel to allow more emergency relief to Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, while defending Israel’s right to launch a ground offensive eventually to remove Hamas from leadership of the region.

"We want to make sure that we have sustained delivery of food, medicine, water, the things that people need," Blinken told CBS. "At the same time, I said something a minute ago that we have to remember. Israel has to do everything it can to make sure this doesn't happen again."

"Freezing things in place where they are now would allow Hamas to remain where it is and to repeat what it's done sometime in the future. No country could accept that," he said.