US Embassy in Jerusalem, Israel, closed: Services in Tel Aviv unavailable as Middle East war fears grow
'As a result of the current security situation and ongoing conflict between Israel and Iran, the US Embassy has directed that all US government employees and their family members continue to shelter in place in and near their residences until further notice,' the Embassy said in a statement.
'Given the security situation and in compliance with Israel Home Front Command guidance, the US Embassy in Jerusalem will be closed tomorrow (Wednesday, June 18) through Friday (June 20).
'This includes the Consular Sections in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. There will be no passport (emergency or regular) or Consular Report of Birth Abroad services.'
The announcement comes after US President Donald Trump met with national security advisers in the White House Situation Room on Tuesday after returning from the G7 summit early.
Both US and Israeli media have also reported that Mr Trump spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu before the Situation Room meeting.
The US Embassy said it had 'no announcements' on assisting private US citizens in Israel.
The main airport in Israel, Ben Gurion Airport near Tel Aviv, is closed.
The advice from the US Government, which echoed advice from the Chinese Embassy in Israel a day prior, was to head towards Jordan land crossings
The Australian Government updated it's advice for Israel to 'do not travel' on June 15.
Like other governments, no plans to rescue stranded citizens have been announced.
Mr Trump on Tuesday demanded Iran 'surrender' as more missiles were fired.
Following his demand, Iran's Supreme Leader issued a chilling messaging, saying: 'the battle begins'.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Sky News AU
21 minutes ago
- Sky News AU
Douglas Murray blasts CBS for Kamala Harris cover-up
Author Douglas Murray discusses reports that Paramount has agreed to pay $US16 million to US President Donald Trump to settle a lawsuit concerning an interview with former vice president Kamala Harris that aired on 60 Minutes. 'This is all just a reminder that despite her obvious inadequacy for the role of vice president, let alone president, there were so many people in the media, let alone the Democratic Party, who were just wafting her upwards, covering for her,' Mr Murray told Sky News host Rita Panahi. 'You see in the unedited tape what we all knew, which was that she was hopelessly out of her depth, as indeed was her boss. 'The fact that so much of the media was willing to help her in that really is pretty astonishing.'
Perth Now
2 hours ago
- Perth Now
China denies military base ambitions in Pacific Islands
China's embassy in Fiji denies that Beijing wants a military base or sphere of influence in the Pacific Islands after Fijian Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka said islands were trying to cope with a powerful China seeking to spread its influence. "The claims about China setting up a military base in the Pacific are false narratives," an embassy spokesperson said in a statement on Thursday. "China's presence in the Pacific is focused on building roads and bridges to improve people's livelihoods, not on stationing troops or setting up military bases." Rabuka said on Wednesday his country had development co-operation with China, but was opposed to Beijing establishing a military base in the region. In any case, China did not need a base to project power in the region, he said. China tested an intercontinental ballistic missile in September that flew over Fiji to land 11,000km from China in the international waters of the Pacific Ocean. "If they can very well target an empty space they can very well target occupied space," Rabuka told the National Press Club in Canberra. Washington became concerned about China's ambition to gain a military foothold in the Pacific Islands in 2018 when Beijing sought to redevelop a naval base in Papua New Guinea and a military base in Fiji. China was outbid by Australia for both projects. The concern resurfaced in 2022 when China signed a security pact with Solomon Islands, prompting Washington to warn it would respond if Beijing established a permanent military presence. In November, the outgoing US Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell urged the Trump administration to keep its focus on the region because China wanted to build bases in the Pacific Islands. The Chinese embassy spokesperson said Fiji and China respect each other's sovereignty. "China has no interest in geopolitical competition, or seeking the so-called 'sphere of influence'," the statement said. China has established a police presence in Solomon Islands, Kiribati and Vanuatu.
News.com.au
2 hours ago
- News.com.au
US House sets make-or-break final vote on Trump tax bill
US lawmakers teed up a final vote on Donald Trump's marquee tax and spending bill for early Thursday after a bruising day of Republican infighting that threatened to derail the centerpiece of the president's domestic agenda. Trump is seeking a green light in the House of Representatives for his Senate-passed "One Big Beautiful Bill" -- but faces opposition on all sides of his fractious party over provisions set to balloon the national debt while launching a historic assault on the social safety net. Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson spent much of Wednesday struggling to corral his rank-and-file members as the package scraped through a series of "test" votes that laid bare deep divisions in the party. It was set for a final vote to advance it from Congress to Trump's desk around 8:30 am (1230 GMT) after passing its last procedural hurdle in the early hours. "We feel very good about where we are and we're moving forward," an upbeat Johnson told reporters at the Capitol. "So we're going to deliver the Big, Beautiful Bill -- the president's 'America First' agenda -- and we're going to do right by the American people." Originally approved by the House in May, Trump's sprawling legislation squeezed through the Senate on Tuesday by a solitary vote but had to return to the lower chamber for a rubber stamp of the senators' revisions. The package honors many of Trump's campaign promises, boosting military spending, funding a mass migrant deportation drive and committing $4.5 trillion to extend his first-term tax relief. But it is expected to pile an extra $3.4 trillion over a decade onto the country's fast-growing deficits, while shrinking the federal food stamps program and forcing through the largest cuts to the Medicaid health insurance scheme for low-income Americans since its 1960s launch. While moderates in the House are anxious that the cuts will damage their prospects of reelection, fiscal hawks are chafing over savings that they say fall far short of what was promised. Johnson has to negotiate incredibly tight margins, and can likely only lose three lawmakers in the final vote, among more than two dozen who have declared themselves open to rejecting Trump's bill. - 'Abomination' - Republican leaders had been hoping to spend just a few hours on Wednesday afternoon approving the package, although they had some breathing room ahead of Trump's self-imposed Independence Day deadline on Friday. The 887-page text only passed in the Senate after a flurry of tweaks that pulled the House-passed version further to the right. Republicans lost one conservative who was angry about adding to the country's $37 trillion debt burden and two moderates worried about plans for around $1 trillion in health care cuts. Some estimates put the total number of recipients set to lose their health insurance under the bill at 17 million, while scores of rural hospitals are expected to close. Legislation in the House has to go through multiple preliminary votes before it can come up for final approval, and a majority of lawmakers must wave it through at each of these stages. But there were warning signs early on as the package stumbled at one of its first procedural steps, with a vote that ought to have been straightforward remaining open for seven hours and 31 minutes -- making it the longest in House history. Johnson had been clear that he was banking on Trump leaning on waverers, as the president has in the past to turn around contentious House votes that were headed for failure. The Republican leader has spent weeks hitting the phones and hosting White House meetings to cajole lawmakers torn between angering welfare recipients at home and incurring his wrath. "FOR REPUBLICANS, THIS SHOULD BE AN EASY YES VOTE. RIDICULOUS!!!" Trump thundered in one of multiple posts to his Truth Social platform that sounded increasingly frustrated as Wednesday's marathon voting session spilled into Thursday. The minority House Democrats have signaled that they plan to campaign on the bill to flip the chamber in the 2026 midterm elections, pointing to analyses showing that it represents a historic redistribution of wealth from the poorest Americans to the richest.
