A ship carrying Americans who wanted to leave Israel because of the Jewish state’s war with Hamas left the port of Haifa today for Cyprus, AFP journalists reported.

The US Embassy in Israel announced yesterday that US authorities are offering Americans and their family members in Israel with a valid travel document the opportunity to depart by sea from Haifa to Cyprus today, October 16.

Some Americans had been waiting as early as 6:00 in the morning at the Israeli port.

The representative of the Cypriot Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Theodoros Gotsis, told the Cyprus News Agency (CYPE) that the ship is expected to arrive in Limassol tomorrow morning.

For his part, the representative of the Cypriot government, Konstantinos Letympiotis, stated today that Cyprus has received 26 requests from 26 countries for the transfer of foreign nationals from the Gaza Strip and Israel to their countries via Cyprus.

“We already have 26 requests from 26 countries and we are responding to the maximum extent we can,” he stressed.

The requests, as he said, concern the transportation of foreign nationals who wish to leave the Gaza Strip and Israel and go to their countries, through Cyprus which will act as a transit station. He noted that so far, through the “Hestia Plan”, the government is able to respond to the maximum extent.

The representative of the Cypriot government stated that so far 447 people have left Cyprus and around 600 have arrived.