Four rescue flights are set to arrive Tuesday bearing Israelis fleeing the war-torn Caucasian nation of Georgia, the Foreign Ministry has announced.

Three of the flights were initiated by the Ministry, which hired El Al Airlines to fly to Georgia after it was unable to close a deal with Arkia Israel Airlines, which normally flies the route on Fridays, and it became clear that there was not an IAF plane large enough to carry all the passengers in one flight. Radar damage at the international airport in the nation's capital of Tbilisi was cited as one reason for Arkia's reluctance. A fourth flight is expected to arrive flown by Georgia Airlines.

One of the El Al flights took off from Ben Gurion International Airport in Lod at 9:00 am Tuesday, heading for Tbilisi. A second flight headed out early Tuesday afternoon. Approximately 230 Israelis are expected to arrive back in the Jewish State by the end of the night. Officials said if it became impossible to fly into or out of Tbilisi, the Foreign Ministry would arrange to transport the passengers by bus to neighboring airports in Armenia and/or Azerbaijan. 

Watch an interview with Bar Ilan University Professor Ze'ev Khenin, an expert on the region, on the role Israel has played in the current conflict between Russia and Georgia. Can't see the video player?  Click here.

Labor Knesset Member Leon Litinetsky, a native of Russia, arrived in the Georgian capital on Monday to help evacuate Jews from the combat zone.

“I felt I had to come here and try to help the Jewish community during this time,” he told reporters before leaving Israel.

“The people here are nervous because they can’t get out of Georgia. The overall feeling is that battles may erupt in Tbili’s streets at any moment. You can hear the Russian jets flying overhead. It is very unnerving,” he added.

Russian President Dimitry Medvedev ordered his troops to stand down on Tuesday after fierce fighting in Georgia had claimed the lives of almost 2,000 victims since Friday.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy, meanwhile, headed for Moscow on behalf of the European Union to act as a mediator in ceasefire negotiations between Russia and Georgia; however, Russian Foreign Minister Vladimir Lavrov insisted that Moscow would not speak to Georgian President Mikhail Sa'akashvili and advised him to "step down."

Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu contributed to this report.