Indian citizens in Israel who wish to leave will be evacuated through the land borders and thereafter by air to India, said the Ministry of External Affairs on Thursday.

The ministry also urged all Indian citizens to register with the embassy in Tel Aviv to facilitate the evacuations.

The development came hours after the Israeli military announced that it targeted the Arak nuclear reactor in Iran overnight and struck what it claimed was a nuclear weapons development site in the Natanz area.

The Arak facility is a partially built heavy-water research reactor, also known as Khondab.

Iranian media reported on Thursday morning that air defences were activated near the Khondab nuclear facility, after two projectiles hit an area close to it.

This came against the backdrop of the conflict between Israel and Iran entering its seventh day on Thursday.

Here is more on this and other top updates:

  • The Ministry of External Affairs on Thursday urged all Indian citizens in Israel to remain vigilant and strictly follow the safety guidelines issued by Israeli authorities. “Government of India accords the highest priority to the safety and security of Indian nationals abroad,” said the ministry.
  • Forty Israeli Air Force jets struck dozens of military targets in Tehran and other areas of Iran, deploying more than 100 munitions, the Israel Defense Force said in a press release. “As part of the strikes and as part of the broad effort to prevent the Iranian regime from obtaining a nuclear weapon, the nuclear reactor…in Arak…was targeted,” the defence forces added. It further said that the strikes targeted the reactor’s core seal, which is a key component in plutonium production to prevent it from being used for nuclear weapons development.  
  • The Atomic Energy Organization of Iran confirmed the attack in Arak, Al Jazeera reported. “In continued violation of international laws that explicitly prohibit attacks on nuclear facilities, the Zionist enemy launched an assault this morning targeting the Shahid Khondab heavy water complex and its research reactor,” the organisation stated. The International Atomic Energy Agency clarified that the facility was not operational and hence there would be “no radiological effects”. 
  • Iran on Thursday accused the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog of acting as a “partner” in what it described as Israel’s “war of aggression”. Before the conflict between Iran and Israel began, the International Atomic Energy Agency had accused Tehran of non-compliance with its obligations in its nuclear programme. “You betrayed the non-proliferation regime. You have made IAEA a partner to this unjust war of aggression,” Iran’s Foreign Ministry Spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei wrote on X, in a post addressed to the head of the agency, Rafael Grossi.
  • An Iranian missile hit the Soroka Hospital, the primary medical facility in southern Israel early Thursday, Tehran claimed. The attack caused “extensive damage” but no serious injuries, AP quoted the medical facility as saying. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said “we will exact the full price from the tyrants in Tehran”. 
  • In the aftermath of the strikes, Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz blamed Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Associated Press reported. He said the military “has been instructed and knows that to achieve all of its goals, this man absolutely should not continue to exist.”
  • United States President Donald Trump, meanwhile said “he may or may not” get involved in the conflict, reported The Guardian. Trump claimed Iranian officials wanted to talk but added, “It’s a little late.” Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi warned that “all the necessary options [are] on the table” in case the United States intervened and “actively enter the field in favour of the Zionist regime”, AFP reported. 
  • A flight carrying 110 students who were evacuated to Armenia from Iran amid the conflict between Israel and Iran arrived in New Delhi on Thursday, the Ministry of External Affairs said. They were studying at Urmia University in northwestern Iran and had been evacuated to neighbouring Armenia on Tuesday.