The first group of Jewish families living in Tunisia arrived in Israel Wednesday, Israeli media reported.

The ouster of the Tunisian president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali last week has purportedly led to a number of Jewish people fleeing from Tunisia into Israel.

“The first group of Tunisian families arrived on Wednesday and we expect more families to arrive in the coming few days”, sources told Israeli Radio. He added that the Jewish Agency for Israel (JAFI) secretly transported hundreds of Jewish families from Tunisia to Israeli through France.

The JAFI was assisted by the absorption ministry, foreign ministry, interior ministry and several different countries to transport hundreds of families, mostly living in Djerba island in north eastern Tunisia, to Israel.

The sources added that there more than 2,500 Jews in Tunisia, most of them working in tourism. The JAFI claims that the Jewish families were harassed during the recent unrest.