CAIRO, November 21. /TASS/. The Russian emergencies ministry’s special flight to transport Russian citizens evacuated from the Gaza Strip took off from Egypt’s capital Cairo on Tuesday evening and is now on its way to Moscow, a TASS correspondent reported.

The Il-76 plane has several dozens of Russians on board. The flight to Moscow’s Domodedovo Airport is expected to take around five hours.

More than 500 people have been evacuated from the Gaza Strip to Russia by planes since November 12. The Russian Foreign Ministry’s official spokeswoman Maria Zakharova earlier said that more than 1,000 people have signed up for evacuation. The Emergency Situations Ministry said the number of Russians wishing to be evacuated from the Gaza Strip is increasing and pledged to bring every one of them back home.