TAMPA, Fla. — Governor Ron DeSantis made an early morning trip to Tampa International on Friday to greet the over 160 Americans flown home from Israel.
"It's so surreal, we were evacuated from a war zone," said one Bradenton woman.
The two flights that have landed so far have been chartered by the State of Florida, through the Department of Emergency Management. But the Florida-based nonprofit Grey Bull Rescue has been leading the rescue mission in Israel.
WATCH full report by Blake Phillips
This isn't new for DeSantis or Florida, but they say this is the most challenging mission yet.
"The most logistically challenging rescues we have done. We've done them in Haiti, we've done them in Israel, Hamas was obviously bad, but when you have the Iranian mullahs firing all these barrages of missiles," said Gov. DeSantis.
The flight today was the second to land at TPA in a matter of days. But Gov. DeSantis said there are more people waiting.
"We're not going to turn someone away as a fellow American, so our focus is on communicating with Floridians, getting them, but when there's other people that are our countrymen. We are going to help them as well," said Gov DeSantis.
“I didn't see anything"
Nine-year-old Leah Lendel and her family were enjoying a day at the beach in Boca Grande when a shark bit her hand. Over a week later, she appeared at a press conference with her family at Tampa General Hospital to give an update on her recovery.
