TAMPA, Fla. — There’s a non-profit organization based in Tampa Bay that’s already rescued more than 700 people from Israel, and the mission continues as more evacuation requests come in.
Grey Bull Rescue consists of a team of veterans who specialize in going into war-torn countries and rescuing people who can’t get out on their own.
WATCH: Tampa non-profit works to rescue thousands of Americans from war-torn Israel
They call their latest mission Operation Olive Shield.
During a virtual press conference, Grey Bull Rescue Founder Bryan Stern said, as of today, more than 7,000 people have asked to be rescued from Israel. The majority of these individuals are Americans, many of whom are from Florida. Grey Bull Rescue says its team consists of more than 140 people from diverse backgrounds, including Navy SEALs, Green Berets, and the CIA.
“War zones are our office space so we’re not squeamish about the doom and gloom of the war stuff, that’s what we do, so it doesn’t slow us down, but it does indicate to us that the need is real though,” said Stern. “Our requests are through the roof, we can’t keep up, we are going to be engaging with a call center by the Florida Department of Emergency Management to help us out a little bit.”
As for those they are rescuing, they vary from high school students to senior citizens, all of them dodging missile attacks, just trying to make it out safe.
“With the missile threat there is nothing you can do, they take out whole buildings, even a bomb shelter doesn’t really work, if you have a direct hit it doesn’t work at all, so it’s a very intimidating and kind of helpless feeling to be in that situation because there really is nothing that you can do but hope to God that the thing doesn’t hit you,” said Stern.
Since 2021, Grey Bull Rescue has rescued more than 7,000 people from 39 countries.
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