Israel has brought about 3,500 of its citizens home on repatriation flights on its first day of partially reopening the country’s airspace amid the war with Iran.

In addition, preparations are underway to resume outbound flights from Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport in a limited format starting on Sunday, to help some 28,000 tourists stuck in the country return and allow Israelis in need to travel outside the country.

On Thursday, a total of 20 flights by Israeli airlines El Al, Arkia, and Israir flew about 3,500 passengers from various mostly European cities, including Athens, Rome, Larnaca, Munich, London, Batumi, and Zurich, to Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport, as one plane an hour was permitted to land.

At times, landing had to be delayed amid Iranian missile attacks that targeted central Israel.

“We were in Madrid looking for ways to return to Israel and decided to travel to Rome and from there we got on a flight to Tel Aviv,” said Sapir from Herzliya, who did not give her last name, upon arrival at the airport. “We were supposed to fly back on Tuesday, so altogether it was a trip of 24 hours -it was fun but also scary.”

The wartime repatriation wasn’t entirely smooth. An El Al flight from Tbilisi was forced to abort landing Thursday morning just before touchdown at Ben Gurion Airport, and lift back up due to a rocket and missile attack alert from Iran. After about 20 minutes of circling in the air, the plane landed safely at Ben Gurion, a passenger told Israel’s Channel 12.

Since the country’s main gateway was shut on Saturday following the joint US-Israel attack on Iran, more than 20,000 Israelis stranded abroad have returned home in recent days via land border crossings, maritime routes, and as the country’s airspace gradually reopened overnight, according to the Transportation Ministry.

That includes a total of about 15,000 Israelis who have returned to Israel via the land border crossing with Egypt near the Taba International Airport, according to the Israel Immigration and Population Authority.

However, another 120,000 Israelis are currently abroad, seeking to return to Israel.

“We are doing everything to return every Israeli home safely,” said Transportation Minister ​Miri Regev.

Starting Friday, the Transportation Ministry plans to more than double the number of daily inbound flights operated by Israeli airlines as part of a plan to bring home the stranded Israelis within seven to 10 days, depending on the security situation.

Seventeen El Al flights carrying passengers from New York, Los Angeles and Bangkok, as well as from major European cities, are scheduled to land at Ben Gurion throughout the day on Friday. Local carrier Arkia will operate eight flights from European destinations, including Larnaca, Athens, and Rome. Israir has 12 flights on its schedule departing from Barcelona, Athens, Rome, Verona, and Batumi, among other cities.

El Al will not fly on Shabbat, the Jewish day of rest, which begins at sundown Friday and ends 25 hours later on Saturday night. Meanwhile, Arkia will operate 11 flights on Saturday from various cities, including Prague, Budapest, Larnaca and Athens. Israir will operate 15 flights from cities including Berlin, Grenoble, Sofia, and Budapest.

Starting this coming Sunday, outbound flights from Ben Gurion Airport are set to resume in a very restricted format to avoid overcrowding and due to safety conditions. According to the emerging framework, in the first phase, a maximum of 50 passengers will be allowed to board each outbound flight from Ben Gurion Airport.

Outgoing flights, once approved, will be permitted at a rate of just one an hour and will be linked to the number of repatriation flights that land at the airport. Fliers will have to use the early check-in program from home and arrive at the airport at least an hour and a half before the flight.

As Iranian ballistic missile fire on Israel slowed, the IDF Home Front Command on Thursday eased some restrictions that were imposed on the public at the start of the war. The eased guidelines permit gatherings of 50 people, provided a shelter can be reached in time.

The closure of Israel’s airspace initially left some 37,000 tourists stuck in the country, scrambling for a way to get back home. Not knowing when outbound flights from Ben Gurion Airport will resume, some 9,000 tourists left the country via land border crossings, according to the Tourism Ministry, leaving the current number of 28,000.

“Until the outbound flights commence, the Tourism Ministry has, since the beginning of the week, been operating a transportation system to the Taba land border crossing from several locations across the country,” the ministry said.

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