Israel says ready to accept thousands of Ukrainian Jews

Israel can accept "thousands" of Ukrainian Jews looking to flee Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Israeli officials have said.

“We are ready to accept thousands of Jewish immigrants from Ukraine,” Haaretz reported immigration minister Pnina Tamano-Shata as saying on Thursday, the day Russia began battering its western neighbour in air and ground offensives.

Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lior Haiat told Newsweek that "Israel was created to be the home of any Jew that wants to immigrate to Israel."

"We'll be happy to receive any Jew that wants to immigrate from Ukraine to Israel," Haiat said.

Haaretz reported on Thursday that the Jewish Agency, a semi-official Israeli body that aids Jewish migration to Israel, had been "flooded" with requests from Jewish people trying to leave Ukraine.

Israel and the Jewish Agency are discussing ways to make migration to Israel easier for Ukraine's tens of thousands of Jewish people, the Israeli daily said.

Israel had been preparing for an influx of Ukrainian Jews amid weeks of high tension between West-backed Ukraine and Russia.

The plans were slammed as hypocrisy by Palestinian rights defenders, who highlighted Israel's ongoing occupation of Palestinian land and evictions of Palestinians from their homes.

Under Israel's Law of Return, individuals who are able to prove that they have at least one Jewish grandparent are able to immigrate to Israel.

By contrast, Palestinians made refugees during the 1948 Nakba and their descendants are unable to return.

Two flights brought 100 Ukrainian Jews to Israel on Sunday - one flight from the capital Kyiv and the other from the southern Ukrainian city of Odessa.

Russia launched a ground invasion of Ukraine early on Thursday morning. Troops reached the outskirts of the Ukrainian capital Kyiv the next day.

The Ukrainian health has said that 198 people, including three children, have been killed in Ukraine since the Russian invasion began.

Before the invasion, Israel had been cautious with its comments on the crisis.

However, Israeli foreign minister Yair Lapid said Thursday that Russia's assault on Ukraine was "an attack on the world order".

Israeli prime minister Naftali Bennett spoke to Ukrainian President Zelenskyy by phone on Friday, offering Ukraine humanitarian assistance, according to a statement from his office.

Israel's diaspora ministry said Friday that it had pledged 10 million shekels ($3.1 milllion) for evacuations and the protection of Jewish institutions, The Times of Israel reported.