JERUSALEM — Students and staff currently at the BYU Jerusalem Center in Israel have been ordered to shelter in place amidst the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.
In an update posted Wednesday to the Center's website, BYU officials said the decision to hold off on evacuating the city and country was made after all options were considered, and staying in Jerusalem was seen as the "least risky."
An evacuation plan would have taken those at the Center by bus to either Cairo, Egypt or Amman, Jordan.
The exact number of students currently at the Center is not known, although it typically welcomes up to 80 students each semester.
Since the start of the conflict over the weekend, Israel has been targeted by counterstrikes from Iran. However, BYU noted in its update that there has been a "substantial decrease" in the number of Iranian missiles fired toward the area in Jerusalem where the center is located.
BYU referenced a recent State Department warning to Americans in the Middle East to evacuate, but added that the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem had told its employees to shelter in place.
"Likewise, the government of Israel urged Israelis with US or other non-Israeli passports to shelter in place," the notice said.
Iran compared to Utah: 27 times more people, 7.5 times the size:
In an earlier update on Sunday, immediately after the strikes against Iran began, the Center said a small percentage of Iranian missiles had made it through Israeli defenses, causing damage and casualties. Even when a missile was intercepted, shrapnel remained an issue.
"Shrapnel cannot penetrate shelters," the Center wrote Sunday. "Everyone in the Center has been in the Center's shelters and safe rooms during these attacks on targets elsewhere in Israel."
According to BYU officials, the amount of time typically spent in the Center's shelters was between 20-30 minutes, adding that no students or staff were actually living in the shelters.
