New Delhi: The first batch of Indians reached New Delhi from Tel Aviv by an Air India chartered flight under “Operation Ajay,” launched by the government to evacuate its citizens from the war-torn Israel. The first batch had 212 Indians, mostly students and few tourists, out of the 230 who were registered. They were received by Union minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar at the Indira Gandhi International Airport.
The citizens thanked the government for the prompt evacuation and said the entire process was very smooth. Narrating the situation in Israel, they said normal life had been paused and people were scared and angry due to the violence, destruction and large-scale killings.
They recounted what they had seen in the past few days in Israel, which had witnessed a surprise and unprecedented attack by Hamas in its southern areas on Saturday morning. It was the deadliest attack the country had seen in at least 50 years.
“We woke up to the sounds of air raid sirens. We stay in central Israel and I don’t know what shape this conflict will take,” said Shashwat Singh soon after he landed at Delhi airport along with his wife. The post-doctoral researcher in agriculture, who has been staying in Israel since 2019, said the sound of those sirens and the nightmarish experience of the past few days still haunt him.
The evacuation of the Indians is a “praiseworthy step”, Singh said soon after the flight landed. “We hope peace will be restored and we will return to work… The Indian government got in touch with us via email. We are thankful to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Indian embassy in Israel.”
Many students who returned home recalled the fateful night of Saturday and how they had to rush to shelters a number of times in the wake of the rocket attacks by Hamas. Suparno Ghosh, from West Bengal, a first-year Ph.D. student of the Ben-Gurion University of Negev at Beersheba in Israel, was also among the group of Indians who reached New Delhi on the special flight.
Several women students also recounted the grim situation that they faced when the attacks happened. “It was a panic situation. We are not citizens there, we are just students. So, for us, whenever the sirens go on, it’s a panic situation for us,” said Mini Sharma, who is from Jaipur. Asked when she received the information about the rescue flight, she replied: “Just a day before.”
“We packed our bags yesterday morning after receiving a message from the Indian embassy. They were very helpful. We were able to get in touch with them round the clock,” Ms Sharma said.
