Operation Ajay: Plane with 235 Indian Evacuees from Israel Arrives in New Delhi

The second batch of Indian passengers arrived from Israel to New Delhi on Saturday morning under Operation Ajay. 235 Indian citizens were part of the second batch of evacuees who arrived from Israel amid the Israel-Hamas conflict.

The passengers applauded the government for the initiative and thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for arranging the evacuation of Indian nationals from strife-torn Israel. The passengers were mainly those who are staying and working in Israel.

“I am going to India. I am a postdoctoral student, Agriculture Research Organisation. The situation in central Israel is quite normal, not like the Gaza border, Beersheba and nearby regions,” one Indian national said before boarding the evacuation flight. “I think this is a very good initiative of the Indian government. I had seen only European countries evacuating their citizens. So, I appreciate the government for this,” he said while speaking to ANI.

The Union minister of state of external affairs ministry Rajkumar Ranjan Singh greeted the latest batch of evacuees at the Delhi International Airport.

“We are facilitating about 235 passengers from Israel. We will continue Operation Ajay. There are about 18,000 Indian citizens there. This is the second phase, so we are helping them,” Singh was quoted as saying by ANI.

Indians stranded in Israel while interacting with Union minister Singh also thanked external affairs minister S Jaishankar. “This is very nice and wonderful. We are very happy. Many thanks to the minister of external affairs Dr Jaishankar and the government of India,” one evacuee said.

One student said that some of them were panicking when the conflict between Israel and Hamas started. “This is a good initiative. I thank the government, our Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the external affairs minister and our embassy in Israel. Many students were panicking and feared if they would come back or not,” a student evacuated from Israel told ANI.

Another student told the news outlet that her parents were worried about her safety but are now at ease due to the government’s initiative.