Operation Ajay: Second flight carrying 235 Indian nationals arrives in New Delhi from war-torn Israel

The second flight carrying Indians stranded in war-torn Israel arrived in New Delhi on Saturday morning. About 235 Indian nationals, including two infants, arrived safely via the special flight organised as part of ‘Operation Ajay’.

Minister of State for External Affairs, Rajkumar Ranjan Singh, was present at the Delhi airport to receive the Indian nationals.

Earlier, on Friday, 212 citizens were safely evacuated from Israel and reached New Delhi. 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 will continue over the coming days.

On Wednesday, India launched 'Operation Ajay' to bring back its citizens. External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar announced the launch of "Operation Ajay" in a post on X on Wednesday night. "Launching #OperationAjay to facilitate the return from Israel of our citizens who wish to return," he said.

"Special charter flights and other arrangements being put in place. Fully committed to the safety and well-being of our nationals abroad," he added.

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.

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 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.

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