Amid a full blown war between Israel and Hamas, India has launched ‘Operation Ajay' to facilitate the return of citizens from Israel. There are said to be 18,000 Indians in Israel.
The country is fully committed for the safe return of Indians as it had carried out Operation Ganga during evacuation of citizens in Russia-Ukraine war.
“Special charter flights and other arrangements are being put in place. Fully committed to the safety and well-being of our nationals abroad,” Foreign Minister S Jaishankar said in a post on X.
The first lot of Indians who had registered to return has been notified and they will be put on the first special flight today to India, the country's embassy in Israel said in another post.
“The Embassy has emailed the first lot of registered Indian citizens for the special flight tomorrow. Messages to other registered people will follow for subsequent flights,” the post read.
Israel has formed an emergency government to conduct the war against Hamas, five days after the group's fighters killed civilians in their homes and on the streets in an unprecedented assault on Israeli soil.
Thousands have died over the last five days, with Israel responding to the killings with a massive bombardment of the Gaza Strip which Hamas rules.
With elapse of time, the war situation in Israel is likely to to worsen. Israel faced the threat of a multi-front war after days of back and forth shelling with the Iran-backed Shiite militant group Hezbollah on the northern border with Lebanon.
Hezbollah said it fired missiles at Israel on Wednesday, and the Israeli military said it responded with by striking one of the group's military observation posts in southern Lebanon.
A 24-hour control room in New Delhi is monitoring the situation in Israel and Palestine. The phone numbers for the control room are 1800118797 (toll free), +91-11 23012113, +91-11-23014104, +91-11-23017905 and +919968291988, and the email ID is situationroom@mea.gov.in.
The Indian embassy's 24-hour emergency helpline can be accessed on the numbers +972-35226748 and +972-543278392, and the email ID cons1.telaviv@mea.gov.in
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