Operation Ajay | Air India flight from Israel to arrive in Delhi on October 13 morning

Tel Aviv: Indian nationals wait to board Air India flight to return India, at Tel Aviv, Israel, Thursday, Oct. 12, 2023. The Air India flight is bringing back stranded Indian nationals from Israel under operation Ajay.
| Photo Credit: PTI

An Air India flight carrying around 200 people from Tel Aviv is expected to arrive in the national capital early morning on Friday, according to sources.

The flight, AI 1140, which has been chartered under Operation Ajay, left for Israel on Thursday, they said.

India has launched Operation Ajay to facilitate the return of those Indians who wish to come back home as a series of brazen attacks on Israeli towns by Hamas militants over the weekend has triggered fresh tensions in the region.

The sources said the Air India flight with around 200 people is expected to land at the Delhi airport around 5 am on Friday.

One of the sources said that Air India might be operating more chartered flights to bring back people from Israel, depending on the requirement.

Earlier in the day, Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said, “The first charter flight will reach Tel Aviv later tonight to pick up Indian citizens and is likely to return to India tomorrow morning.” He said around 18,000 Indians are currently residing in Israel while about a dozen odd people are in the West Bank and three to four in Gaza.