New Delhi/IBNS: External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar is monitoring Operation Ajay, the evacuation mission launched by India to rescue its nationals from war-torn Israel.

Special flights and other arrangements have been made to evacuate the nationals.

The first Operation Ajay flight, which will carry 230 Indians, is ready to leave Israel on Thursday night.

Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Arindam Bagchi told reporters, "A charter flight will reach Tel Aviv today later in the evening. It is expected to get 230 passengers onboard. We have all options, but the role of IAF can't be ruled out."

Hamas-run health ministry has claimed Israel's overnight airstrikes have left 51 people dead and  281 hurt.

As per a report by BBC News, 1,300 people in Israel have been killed in the attack by militant organisation Hamas.

In a retaliatory air strike by Israel, more than 1,300 people have been killed in Gaza.

Over a tenth of the population in Gaza, more than 260,000 people, have been displaced since the start of the current conflict on October 7 and the numbers are rising fast.

Meanwhile, UN Secretary-General António Guterres has voiced grave concern over the escalating conflict in Israel and Gaza and stressed the need to prevent the violence from spreading into the wider region.

The UN chief raised alarm over clashes along the Blue Line, the demarcation between Israel and Lebanon, as well as reported attacks from southern Lebanon.

“I appeal to all parties – and those who have an influence over those parties – to avoid any further escalation and spillover,” he told reporters at the UN Headquarters, in New York.

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to kill every member of the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas. However, the country has been asked to conduct retaliatory action as per the “rules of the war”.

After the first meeting of his country's emergency government, Netanyahu said every Hamas member was "a dead man", reported BBC.

Benny Gantz, a significant member of the country’s opposition, said it was "a time for war".