A plane carrying 63 new immigrants from Ethiopia arrived Sunday in Israel as part of the first phase of a government decision to bring over 1,300 Jewish Ethiopians who have been languishing in refugee camps in Gondar and Addis Ababa.

The Israeli government has decided in August to bring 9,000 Falash Mura to Israel by the end of 2020.

This follows a three-year hiatus after a declaration of the “end of Ethiopian aliya,” which left many families separated.

Jewish Agency Chairman Natan Sharansky hailed the arrival of the olim as "the last stages of a historic aliya that began with the covert operations Moses and Solomon."

He assured the group that the rest of their relatives would be united with them in Israel and stressed that they would receive support settling into Israel.

Some of the money for the operation to bring over the 1,300 Jewish Ethiopians is coming from the International Christian Embassy in Jerusalem. The money transferred to the Jewish Agency will be used for 3 operations which will enable 630 Ethiopian, French, and Ukrainian Jews to come over the course of October.