Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday evening met with a group of 19 Jews who were brought from war-torn Yemen to Israel in what officials called a "complex, covert operation" that was carried out with the assistance of the Jewish Agency and the US State Department.

"Welcome to Jerusalem, to the land of Israel," Netanyahu told the new arrivals. "I'm very excited to see you here. For many years we thought about bringing you here and with God's help, it's happened."

Officials said those taken to Israel from Yemen were among the last remaining Jews in the war-torn country.

The Jewish Agency, responsible for Jewish immigration to Israel, said around 50 Jews are still in Yemen and have chosen to remain there. Yemenite Jews are considered one of the oldest Jewish communities in the world.

"Nineteen individuals arrived in Israel in recent days, including 14 from the town of Raydah and a family of five from Sanaa," the agency said in a statement.

"The group from Raydah included the community's rabbi, who brought a Torah scroll believed to be between 500 and 600 years old."

Chairman of the Executive of The Jewish Agency for Israel Natan Sharansky hailed it as "a highly significant moment in the history of Israel and of Aliyah."

"From Operation Magic Carpet in 1949 until the present day, The Jewish Agency has helped bring Yemenite Jewry home to Israel. Today we bring that historic mission to a close," he said. "This chapter in the history of one of the world’s oldest Jewish communities is coming to an end, but Yemenite Jewry’s unique, 2,000-year-old contribution to the Jewish people will continue in the State of Israel.”

Yemen has been gripped by violence since September 2014, when the Iran-backed Huthi rebels, who had long complained of marginalization, stormed Sanaa and forced the internationally recognized government to flee south.

A Saudi-led coalition began bombing raids on Huthi positions across Yemen in March last year but the insurgents still control swathes of the country including the capital.

Al-Qaeda and Islamic State group jihadists have gained ground in southern Yemen since the coalition launched its air campaign.

The Jewish Agency says more than 51,000 Yemenite Jews have immigrated to Israel since the country was founded in 1948.

Nearly 50,000 were brought over in 1949 and 1950 in a secret operation known as Operation Magic Carpet.

According to the Jewish Agency, attacks against Jews in Yemen have risen sharply in the past few years. In 2008 Jewish teacher Moshe Ya’ish Nahari was murdered in Raydah and in 2012, Aharon Zindani was murdered in Sanaa and a young Jewish woman was abducted, forced to convert to Islam, and forcibly wed to a Muslim man.

Staff with agencies