The American Baby Rescued From Israel

Ten-month-old Liv was among the 270 evacuees flown to the United States from Israel on Sunday following the outbreak of violence in the region—one of 92 children brought over by Operation: Promised Land.

With her came her American-born mother, Sarah, her Israeli father, Ben, and their 9-year-old dog, Kai. The young parents said they made the tough decision to leave their home—and the rest of Ben's family—over concerns about the impact the war with Hamas might have on the child.

"[Ben] had a really hard time leaving his family and his friends and, even though it's my home now as well because I moved there, this is his home and he had a really hard time with it," Sarah said after touching down in Tampa, Florida, in an interview obtained by Newsweek. "But we wanted to make this decision for her.

"It's really scary because we just left our family behind and everything we know, but for me it feels really good to make the right decision for her and our future and our family. There's been a lot of things that have made us feel like a parent, but I think this really took it to the next level. I have to be selfless, and I have to think of my child."

The couple explained that they had been living together in Israel for nine years, after Sarah moved there and married Ben, and were used to heading to their shelter room at the sound of rockets.

But the latest bout of violence—which so far has taken the lives of nearly 5,000 people in Israel and Gaza, according to the latest estimates by the Associated Press since the Hamas militant group's surprise attack on October 7—made them fear for Liv's safety.

Sarah said rocket attacks were "scary, but it's something that's just kind of part of life and you go through. The [current] situation I think just took it to another level of how drastic and how intense the retaliation was from the others. So as a mother, as a new mom, it really triggered me, it caused me to have a lot of anxiety, and fear and stress.

"The bombs are scary, yes, but we have a shelter, we're safe. We know we're protected and we've been through this so many times before. But it was just more like what could happen if something bigger should occur....I couldn't sleep just thinking about my child and her protection."

Since about 1,500 Hamas militants launched the attack, killing civilians including children and taking nearly 200 hostages, the Israeli Air Force has been conducting an intensive campaign of air strikes on Hamas targets in Gaza.

Palestinian militants have continued to launch rockets and artillery from the Palestinian territory. On Tuesday, the Institute for the Study of War, a Washington, D.C.-based military affairs think tank, recorded 38 strikes that day.

The evacuated parents explained that to keep Liv calm, they would have lots of toys in their shelter room, and would play with her to keep her distracted while the rockets were flying overhead.

"We're lucky she's not [at] an age where she understands what's going on right now," Ben said. But as the conflict intensifies, Sarah worried: "If we get locked in a shelter for three days, how would that affect her?"

Project Dynamo, which was established to save American citizens after the U.S. Armed Forces pulled out of Afghanistan in August 2021, announced its first evacuation of U.S. civilians and their families on Sunday night, including two dogs.

Many commercial flights in and out of Israel have been canceled because of the violence in the region, prompting the charity, with the help of an executive order from Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, to plan the evacuation.

The federal government has been assisting with the evacuation of American citizens, including through cruise liners from Haifa to Cyprus, from where they can fly back to the U.S.