Israel-Hamas War: A flight under 'Operation Ajay' carrying the first batch of Indians who were stuck in Israel due to the ongoing war with Hamas landed in Delhi on Friday. Around 212 Indian nationals arrived at the Delhi airport on this flight. Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar welcomed the nationals at the airport. An Indian national, while thanking Prime Minister Narendra Modi, for this operation said, "This is the first time that we are facing this 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 earliest as possible," reported the news agency ANI.
A woman thanked the Indian government for the rescue operations and said, "On the first day, we were sleeping and at around 6.30 there was a siren. So we ran towards the shelter and it was very hard but we managed. We are feeling relaxed and we thank the Government of India."
Another Indian national thanked EAM S Jaishankar and said, "The situation was very bad over there... EAM Minister Dr S Jaishankar and his team, especially the Embassy in Tel Aviv did a tremendous job. And we're really very grateful to the Government in India."
A man talked about how efficient the registering portal was for this operation and said, "We registered on the portal and the process was very easy. The operation is excellent."
Meanwhile, the Union Minister who was there to welcome the Indian nationals said, "Our government will never leave any Indian behind. Our government, our Prime Minister is determined to protect them and bring them back home safely. We are grateful to EAM Dr S Jaishankar, the team at the External Affairs Ministry, the flight crew of this Air India flight for making this possible, for bringing our children back home safely and soundly and back home to their loved ones."
When the Indian nationals were coming to India, the chants of 'Vande Matram' and 'Bharat Mata Ki Jai' echoed throughout the flight as they expressed their happiness upon being rescued.