US authorizes some personnel to leave over ‘safety risks’ * USS Gerald Ford set to arrive off coast of Israel today * Iran’s FM: US must drop ‘excessive demands’ to reach a deal
- 8min agoHuckabee said to tell embassy staffers: If you want to leave Israel, ‘do so TODAY’
- 9min agoGallup poll: US sympathies shift to Palestinians from Israelis for first time
- 30min agoUS tells non-emergency staff, family members of envoys to leave Israel over ‘safety risks’
- 52min agoUN rights chief ‘extremely alarmed’ by risk of regional escalation around Iran
By ToI StaffToday, 2:28 am
- A British Airways flight departs Ben Gurion Airport, February 25, 2026. (Yossi Aloni/FLASH90)
- Palestinian worshipers pass through an Israeli checkpoint between the West Bank city of Ramallah and Jerusalem on their way to attend Friday prayers at Al-Aqsa Mosque during Ramadan, Feb. 27, 2026. (AP/Nasser Nasser)
- Thousands of runners take part in a marathon in Tel Aviv on February 27, 2026. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)
- Former hostage Matan Angrest attends a Hanukkah candle-lighting ceremony held for the 7th Armored Brigade, at the National Library in Jerusalem on December 14, 2025. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
- Palestinians make their way through an Israeli checkpoint to the Al-Aqsa compound, also known as Temple Mount, in Jerusalem’s Old City, in Bethlehem, February 27, 2026. (REUTERS/Mussa Qawasma)
The Times of Israel is liveblogging Friday’s events as they unfold.
Huckabee said to tell embassy staffers: If you want to leave Israel, ‘do so TODAY’
US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee attends the lobby for Israel–United States relations at the Knesset in Jerusalem, February 25, 2026. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee reportedly tells embassy staffers that if they want to leave Israel they must do so “TODAY.”
If any staffers or family members want to depart, they “should do so TODAY,” Huckabee writes in the email sent this morning at 10:24 a.m. local time, according to The New York Times.
The embassy’s call for non-emergency staff to depart “will likely result in high demand for airline seats today,” he writes. “Focus on getting a seat to anyplace from which you can then continue travel to DC, but the first priority will be getting expeditiously out of country.”
The NYTimes says the email was verified by three people.
Gallup poll: US sympathies shift to Palestinians from Israelis for first time
By AFP
People demonstrate in Times Square during a pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel protest, in New York, September 26, 2025, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addresses the UN General Assembly at the UN headquarters in the city. (AP/Angelina Katsanis)
Americans for the first time sympathize more with Palestinians than Israelis in their conflict, according to a Gallup poll released today.
Views on the Middle East divide sharply along partisan lines, with the shift over the past year the result of more independents souring on Israel.
Overall, 41 percent of Americans sympathize more with the Palestinians and 36 percent sided with Israel, the poll says, with the rest undecided or saying they favored both or neither.
The gap is not statistically significant, but it marks the first time since Gallup asked the question more than two decades ago that Israel was not on top. It also marks a sharp difference from just a year ago, when Israel led in sympathies 46 to 33 percent.
When asked about their sympathies, independents sided with the Palestinian people by 11 percentage points.
Members of President Donald Trump’s Republican Party continue to back Israel strongly, with 70% siding with Israel, although that figure has declined by 10 percentage points over the past decade.
In the latest poll, 65% of Democrats sympathized with the Palestinians and 17% with Israel.
Gallup surveyed 1,001 US adults by telephone from February 2 to 16.
US tells non-emergency staff, family members of envoys to leave Israel over ‘safety risks’
Travelers at Ben Gurion International Airport, October 23, 2025. (Nati Shohat/Flash90)
The US Embassy in Israel says the State Department has authorized non-emergency personnel and the family members of those stationed in Israel to leave the country due to “safety risks,” and says others may wish to leave while there are still commercial flights.
“On February 27, 2026, the Department of State authorized the departure of non-emergency US government personnel and family members of US government personnel from Mission Israel due to safety risks,” the embassy writes on X.
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“In response to security incidents and without advance notice, the US Embassy may further restrict or prohibit US government employees and their family members from traveling to certain areas of Israel, the Old City of Jerusalem, and the West Bank. Persons may wish to consider leaving Israel while commercial flights are available.”
The current US Embassy travel advisory, included in its Friday security alert, suggests people “reconsider travel to Israel due to terrorism and civil unrest.”
UN rights chief ‘extremely alarmed’ by risk of regional escalation around Iran
By AFP
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk delivers his speech at the opening of the 60th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva, on September 8, 2025. (Fabrice COFFRINI / AFP)
The UN rights chief says he is “extremely alarmed” at the risk of a regional escalation around Iran, amid repeated threats of US strikes.
“I am extremely alarmed about the potential for regional military escalation and its impact on civilians, and I hope the voice of reason prevails,” Volker Turk tells the United Nations Human Rights Council.
He also voices alarm at the normalization of the use of force to resolve disputes, warning that conflicts create “a human rights wasteland.”
“We must not revert to violence as an organizing principle,” Turk says. “The world cannot stand by as the edifice of international humanitarian and human rights law is dismantled before our eyes.”
Canada tells its citizens to ‘leave Iran now if you can’
Illustrative: Tehran’s Imam Khomeini airport, Iran, July 17, 2020. (AP/Vahid Salemi)
Canada calls on any of its citizens in Iran to leave as soon as possible as tensions remain high in the region.
“Canadians in Iran: Due to ongoing tensions, hostilities in the region could resume with little or no warning. Leave Iran now if you can do so safely,” the government says. “Ensure travel documents are up-to-date and keep sufficient supplies in case you need to shelter in place.”
Earlier this week, Australia said it was instructing family members of its diplomats posted in Israel and Lebanon to leave, and that its citizens in either country should consider leaving before it is too late.
Poland, Sweden, India and others have also called on their citizens to leave Iran as the region holds its breath for a potential escalation.
UK reviewing military flight records in latest Epstein probe
By Reuters
Britain’s Ministry of Defense is reviewing flight records that could hold information relating to Jeffrey Epstein, a ministry spokesperson says, after files appeared to show the late US sex offender landed his private jet at military bases.
British police are already assessing whether Epstein trafficked women through two London airports and one in central England on private flights, as part of a nationally coordinated effort to investigate the disgraced financier’s ties to Britain.
But calls are growing for police to also investigate whether Royal Air Force bases such as Marham, in eastern England, and Northolt, near London, were used for the same activity after the files appeared to show Epstein’s private jet had landed there too.
Private jets regularly use RAF Northolt, but it is much less common for them to land at RAF Marham, which is a key frontline base.
Defense Minister John Healey has now ordered a review of military flight records, the MoD spokesperson said in a statement late last night.
“The Defense Secretary has ordered a review of all records that the department may hold relating to Epstein flights landing at RAF bases to ensure that any information which relates to Epstein’s crimes is uncovered and provided to the relevant authorities,” the spokesperson says.
Nearly seven years after his death, the Epstein scandal continues to rock the British establishment.
The latest batch of files released in January led to the brief arrest of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, King Charles’ brother, and then of Peter Mandelson, the former British ambassador to the US, over their suspected sharing of confidential government documents with Epstein.
USS Gerald Ford aircraft carrier set to arrive at Israeli coast today
The US Navy aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford departs Souda Bay on the island of Crete on February 26, 2026. (Costas METAXAKIS / AFP)
The USS Gerald R. Ford, the world’s largest aircraft carrier, is set to arrive at Israel’s northern coast today.
US President Donald Trump ordered the carrier strike group to the Middle East this month as part of a massive military buildup while he weighs whether to take military action against Iran.
The carrier departed from the Greek island of Crete yesterday following a supply stop at a US naval base. It is now en route to the Haifa area.
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Meanwhile, the US Navy denies recent media reports of a plumbing crisis aboard the carrier.
“In recent weeks, media reports have raised concerns regarding shipboard systems, including sanitation. Navy officials state that Gerald R. Ford’s systems are operating within expected parameters for a Ford-class aircraft carrier with more than 4,000 personnel embarked. During this deployment, Gerald R. Ford’s vacuum collection, holding, and transfer (VCHT) system has processed more than six million toilet flushes. Ship leadership reports that clog incidents are addressed promptly by trained damage control and engineering personnel, with minimal downtime,” the US Navy says in a statement.
“On a ship this size, with this many sailors, clogs will occur,” says Cpt. David Skarosi, the carrier’s commanding officer. “What matters is how quickly they are resolved. Our maintenance teams respond immediately, and the system continues to function as designed with no impact to operational readiness or our ability to meet our mission. I am engaged daily with any concerns regarding the health, well-being, and morale of the crew.”
Iran’s FM says US must drop its ‘excessive demands’ in order to reach a deal
By AFP
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi delivers a speech at a United Nations conference on February 17, 2026. (Valentin Flauraud / AFP)
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi says that in order to reach a deal, the United States will have to drop its “excessive demands,” after the two sides held talks yesterday in Geneva.
In a phone call with Egypt’s top diplomat Badr Abdelatty, Araghchi says, “Success in this path requires seriousness and realism from the other side and avoidance of any miscalculation and excessive demands.”
Iraq’s Kataeb Hezbollah tells fighters to prepare for long Iran-US war
By AFP
Illustrative: Young men raise the flag of the Iran-backed Kataeb Hezbollah group during commemorations marking the second anniversary of the killing of top Iranian commander Qassem Soleimani and Iraqi paramilitary commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, in the southern Iraqi city of Basra, on January 8, 2022. (Hussein Faleh/AFP)
A powerful Iran-backed Iraqi armed group tells its fighters to prepare for the scenario of a long war in neighboring Iran should the United States launch strikes.
Kataeb Hezbollah warned the US yesterday of “immense losses” were it to start a war in the region, while a commander in an armed faction tells AFP his group is “highly likely” to intervene in case of strikes.
“Amid American threats and military build-up indicating a dangerous escalation in the region, it is necessary [for all fighters] to prepare for a potentially long war of attrition,” Kataeb Hezbollah says in a statement.
The commander tells AFP that his group sees Iran as strategic to its own interests, and therefore any attack on the Islamic Republic “directly threatens us.”
US-sanctioned Iraqi armed groups did not intervene during the 12-day war between Israel and Iran last year.
This time, the commander says they would be “less restrained,” especially in the event of strikes seeking to overthrow the regime.
Thousands of West Bank Palestinians cross into Jerusalem for Ramadan prayers
Palestinians make their way through an Israeli checkpoint to the Al-Aqsa compound, also known as Temple Mount, in Jerusalem’s Old City, in Bethlehem, February 27, 2026. (REUTERS/Mussa Qawasma)
Thousands of West Bank Palestinians are crossing Israeli checkpoints into Jerusalem this morning for Friday Ramadan prayers at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound on the Temple Mount.
Israel said that it would cap the number of Palestinian worshipers from the West Bank attending the weekly prayers at 10,000.
Similar to last year, only males aged 55 and up, women over 50, and children under 12 when accompanied by a first-degree relative will be permitted to attend prayers at Al‑Aqsa. The restrictions only apply to West Bank Palestinians.
“On the second Friday of the month of Ramadan, the Israel Defense Forces continues to make every effort to ensure the safe passage of worshipers through the crossings… enabling them to reach Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem and perform prayers safely and peacefully, with full security deployment and ongoing coordination in accordance with field situation assessments,” says Lt. Col. Ella Waweya, the IDF’s Arabic-language spokeswoman.
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