Indian nationals queue up to board the second special flight for India under Operation Ajay, at Ben Gurion airport in Tel Aviv, Friday, Oct. 13, 2023. Under Operation Ajay India is bringing back its citizens stranded in Israel amid ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict.
| Photo Credit: PTI

The second batch of 235 Indian nationals, including two infants, wishing to leave Israel were safely evacuated on Friday, a day after 212 Indians were flown out amid the country’s raging conflict with the Palestinian militant group Hamas.

India launched ‘Operation Ajay’ on Thursday to facilitate the return of those who wish to return home following the brazen attacks on Israeli towns by Hamas militants from Gaza on October 7, triggering fresh tension in the volatile region.

The second batch of 235 Indian nationals, including two infants, were safely evacuated on Friday, informed sources told PTI.

The flight took off at 11.02 pm local time.

The evacuation of Indian nationals will continue tomorrow as well, they said.

“The Embassy has emailed the next lot of registered Indian citizens for the special flight today. Messages to other registered people will follow for subsequent flights,” the Indian Embassy posted the announcement on X.

A researcher at Bar-Ilan University, Safed has thanked the Indian government for ‘Operation Ajay’.

“I really want to thank the Government of India for evacuating us from the war situation in Israel… Our government has evacuated us from such a situation under ‘Operation Ajay’,” Suryakant Tiwari, PhD student at Azrieli Faculty of Medicine, Bar-Ilan University, Safed told PTI.

The first charter flight to facilitate the return of Indian citizens from Israel left late Thursday evening from the Ben Gurion airport carrying 211 adults and an infant living in the war-battered region and reached the Indian capital on Friday morning.

The passengers were chosen on a “first come first serve” basis after a drive launched by the Indian embassy for all Indians to register at the mission’s database. The government is bearing the cost of their return.

There are about 18,000 Indian nationals living and working in Israel including caregivers, students, several IT professionals, and diamond traders.

The evacuation of Indian nationals was necessitated after armed Hamas militants based in the Gaza Strip blasted through the Israeli security fence and streamed into Israel by land, air and sea on Saturday, in what is now described as an unprecedented attack.

Since then, the attack has killed more than 1,300 people in Israel while the Israeli counter-airstrikes have killed more than 1,530 people in Gaza. Israel has claimed roughly 1,500 Hamas militants were killed inside Israel.

Tel Aviv: Indian nationals wait to board Air India flight to return India, at Tel Aviv, Israel, Thursday, Oct. 12, 2023. The Air India flight is bringing back stranded Indian nationals from Israel under operation Ajay.
| Photo Credit: PTI

An Air India flight carrying around 200 people from Tel Aviv is expected to arrive in the national capital early morning on Friday, according to sources.

The flight, AI 1140, which has been chartered under Operation Ajay, left for Israel on Thursday, they said.

India has launched Operation Ajay to facilitate the return of those Indians who wish to come back home as a series of brazen attacks on Israeli towns by Hamas militants over the weekend has triggered fresh tensions in the region.

The sources said the Air India flight with around 200 people is expected to land at the Delhi airport around 5 am on Friday.

One of the sources said that Air India might be operating more chartered flights to bring back people from Israel, depending on the requirement.

Earlier in the day, Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said, “The first charter flight will reach Tel Aviv later tonight to pick up Indian citizens and is likely to return to India tomorrow morning.” He said around 18,000 Indians are currently residing in Israel while about a dozen odd people are in the West Bank and three to four in Gaza.