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‘Bharat mata ki jai’ chants echo as stranded Indians return from Israel. Watch
The repatriated Indians thanked the Indian government upon landing and recounted their experience.
A chartered flight carrying the first batch of Indian citizens stranded in Israel amid the ongoing war with Hamas, arrived in Delhi on Friday morning. The flight carrying 212 passengers took off on Thursday night from the Ben Gurion airport in Israel under ‘Operation Ajay’.
A video shared by news agency ANI showed the passengers chanting 'Bharat Mata ki Jai', 'Vande Mataram' slogans as they reached India.
The repatriated Indians thanked the government upon landing and recounted their experience.
One of the passengers told ANI," This is the first time that we are facing such a situation over there. We are very thankful to the Indian government, especially Prime Minister Narendra Modi, for bringing us back. We are hoping for peace as soon as possible so that we can go back to work as early as possible.”
Another passenger - Shashwat Singh - who has been living in Israel since 2019 told PTI, “We woke up to sounds of air raids' sirens. We stay in central Israel. I don't know what shape this conflict will take.”
Also read: Israel's Gaza ground offensive soon? Sets deadline to relocate 10 lakh residents; Hamas reacts
An Indian woman who was pursuing a post-doctorate course in Israel with her husband returned to India with a 5-month-old son in her arms.
“We live in the southern part of the city. It's safe…But because of him (her son) we decided to come back to India.”
Describing the day the Hamas attacked Israel, she said, “On the first day, we were sleeping and at around 6:30, there was a siren. For the two years we had been there we had not experienced that much chaos. And with my son it is hard. But we managed…We ran to a shelter and were there for I guess two hours, when we heard another siren.”
What is Operation Ajay?
The Centre on Wednesday launched ‘Operation Ajay’ to bring back stranded citizens from Israel, which is fighting with Hamas. This came after Air India and other airlines suspended all its commercial operations to and from Israel as the war began on October 7.
According to the government, special chartered flights will bring back the Indians under this operation, and the Indian Navy ships will also be deployed if the need arises.
Notably, there are around 18,000 Indians in Israel including students, professionals, and traders.
