Air India flight carrying around 200 people from Tel Aviv arrived in the national capital early morning on Friday

Early Friday morning, an Air India aircraft from Tel Aviv, carrying about 200 passengers, touched down in the nation's capital. Flight AI 1140 assigned to Operation Ajay, departed on Thursday saw towards Israel.

After a spate of heinous assaults on Israeli communities by Hamas terrorists over the weekend, India initiated Operation Ajay to help those Indians who want to return home. This has led to increased tensions in the region. According to sources, depending on demand, Air India may run additional chartered flights to return passengers from Israel.

As per Arindam Bagchi, a spokesman for the Ministry of External Affairs, earlier in the day informed that the first charter flight will reach Tel Aviv later tonight to pick up Indian citizens and is likely to return to India tomorrow morning. According to him, there are presently 18,000 Indians living in Israel, compared to a dozen or so in the West Bank and three to four in Gaza.