First flight under Operation Ajay carrying 212 Indians takes off from Israel
Israel left Thursday evening from the Ben Gurion airport carrying 211 adults and an infant living in the war-battered region. 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.
The flight, which took off at 22:14 local time, was arranged to facilitate the return of those who were unable to do so because Air India had immediately suspended its flight on the day fighting began on October 7, and its commercial operation remains suspended till now.
«Operation Ajay gets underway. 212 citizens onboard the flight are enroute New Delhi,» External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said in a post on X.
«The first flight of Operation Ajay carrying 212 Indian nationals has departed from Tel Aviv to Delhi. The Indian embassy in Israel wishes everyone on board a safe journey,» the Indian mission posted on X.
There was a long queue of Indians, including students, at the airport to board the special flight being operated under 'Operation Ajay' from Tel Aviv.
Israel has vowed an unprecedented offensive against the Islamic militant group Hamas ruling Gaza after its fighters broke through the border fence and stormed into the country's south through air, land and sea on October 7.
On the sixth day, the Israeli military said more than 1,300 people, including 222 soldiers, were killed in Israel, a staggering toll unseen since the 1973 war with Egypt and Syria that lasted weeks. In Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip, at least 1,417 people, including women and children, have been killed, according to authorities there.
