New Delhi: India has launched Operation Ajay to bring back the Indian citizens from Israel amid a full-blown war with the Hamas group in Gaza. 18,000 Indians are residing in Israel.

External Minister S Jaishankar said in his twitter that special charter flights and other arrangements are being put in place, fully committed to the safety and well-being of our nationals abroad.

Indian Embassy in Israel in its official twitter that the first lot of Indians who had registered to return has been notified and they will be put on the first special flight tomorrow to India.

Israel has formed an emergency Government to conduct the war against Hamas, five days after the group’s fighters killed civilians in their homes and on the streets in an unprecedented assault on Israeli soil. Thousands have died over the last five days, with Israel responding to the killings with a massive bombardment of the Gaza Strip which Hamas rules.

Hamas also took around 150 hostages, Israel said. They include at least 14 Thais, two Mexicans and an unknown number of Americans and Germans.