Israel hopes to have welcomed 100,000 refugees from Ukraine by the end of the year, the Minister of Immigration has pledged.

Pnina Tamano-Shata - Israel’s first Ethiopian-born minister - said: "My goal is 100,000 this year, and 20,000 are actually already here.

"I believe that 100,000 is a high goal but if I close with 60,000 that will be a big achievement.”

Already a vast percentage of Ukraine’s population of up to 400,000 Jews has been displaced by Putin’s war.

The commitment to take in 100,000 Ukrainians is vast in proportion to Israel's total population of just 9 million - equivalent to the UK taking in some 700,000 refugees.

Speaking in an interview with the Sunday Telegraph, Ms Tamano-Shata said: “As you know a lot of the refugees that came to Israel were women with children and without husbands as the men are not allowed to leave Ukraine. 

"We've seen the elderly in big amounts. We've seen also a lot of Holocaust survivors arriving in Israel without family.”

Ms Tamano-Shata was three years old when she made aliyah from Ethiopia. Just days ago she announced a new influx of arrivals from her old home country.

Israel’s Operation Tzur Yirsrael is dedicated to reuniting family members with those who have already made aliyah.

Approximately 2,000 Jews arrived from Ethiopia in the initial stage, which ended in March 2021.

Now a further 3,000 Ethiopians are to arrive as the operation resumes, with a total of 340 migrants due to fly into Israel on Wednesday and Thursday this week.

Ms Tamano-Shata said: "Together we will make sure that the immigrants finally fulfill their dream and reach home and their families.”