The fifth flight carrying 286 Indian nationals including 18 citizens of Nepal arrived in New Delhi late on Tuesday night.
Upon arrival, they were received by the Union Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting and Fisheries, Animal Husbandry & Dairying, L Murugan.
"Wherever Indians are stranded, our priority is to bring them back. We have successfully conducted Operation Ganga and Operation Kaveri now under Operation Ajay we are bringing people back from Israel. This is the fifth flight, and we have already brought 1180 people back home. We are the first country to start the evacuation, and we are also bringing people belonging to our neighbour (Nepal) countries...," the Minister said.
Expressing gratitude to PM Modi government, Vishal, an Indian national who returned from Israel told ANI, "I am coming from Haifa, Israel. We had to follow the safety protocols given by the university. The Indian government has helped us a lot, we are thankful to the embassy..."
Whereas, another Indian national, Ramesh said, "We have just returned from Israel. The facilities provided by the Indian Embassy were very good. We got a lot of help from the Indian Embassy in Israel..."
Along with Indian nationals, there were some Nepal citizens as well, who were also evacuated by India under 'Operation Ajay'.
Ambika, a Nepali citizen who returned from Israel told ANI, "The situation in Israel is dangerous. We were scared, there were explosions. I want to thank the Indian Govt for bringing us back. Several Nepali citizens still stranded in Israel..."
Following the evacuation, the Ambassador of Nepal to India, said, "We would like to thank the Indian Govt for bringing Nepali citizens back from Tel Aviv to Delhi. They have arrived here safely. Flights are also being sent from Nepal to evacuate Nepali citizens. There are around 4,500 Nepalis in Israel, out of which 400 have been evacuated. Nepal Govt is working to bring them back..."
Operation Ajay is an ongoing operation conducted by the Indian Armed Forces to evacuate Indian citizens from Israel during the 2023 Israel-Hamas war.
The fourth flight from Israel under 'Operation Ajay' carrying 274 Indian passengers landed in the national capital on Sunday.
Union Minister of State General (Retd) VK Singh received the Indian passengers at the airport.
He interacted with them and also gave tricolours to every Indian passenger.
MoS for Road Transport and Highways, VK Singh informed that more flights will be carried out to evacuate the Indian citizens amid the situation in Israel.
The Indian nationals applauded the operation and said that there was support from the Indian embassy and the evacuation process was nice and quick. 'Operation Ajay' was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to bring back around 18,000 Indians in Israel. Registration of Indians began on Thursday.
The Indian embassy in Israel is providing assistance to Indian companies and has set up a helpline for Indian citizens in need of assistance.
Earlier today, Minister of State (MoS) for External Affairs V Muraleedharan said that if required, more flights will be operated on the basis of the upcoming situation, noting that five flights have already arrived in the last few days.
"As of now, 5 flights have come and if required we will operate more flights on the basis of the situation that emerges," Mr Muraleedharan said.
"During the last, almost 4-5 days, we have flown aircraft from Israel to India," he added.
Following the Hamas attack on Israel, the Indian embassy issued an advisory and requested the Indian citizens living in Israel to be cautious and to register their names in the Indian embassy.
"Conflict erupted in Israel, the Indian Embassy had issued an advisory, requesting the Indian citizens there to be cautious and also to register their names in the Indian Embassy...," he emphasised.
Moreover, the minister stressed that the Indian embassy is considering the requests of Indian citizens in Israel based on the ground situation.
"The Indian Embassy is taking the call on who all have to travel to India based on the requests of the people and their ground situation there," he said.
The MEA had set up a 24-hour control room in view of the escalating conflict. The control room will help monitor the situation and provide information and assistance.
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