More than 200 Israeli rescuers carrying an aid package are set to head for Haiti on Thursday evening to help the Caribbean island state cope with the aftermath of a devastating earthquake, said the Israeli Foreign Ministry.

"A 220-person delegation, headed by Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials, will leave this evening for Port-Au-Prince on two Boeing 747 jets" leased by the Israel Defense Forces, said the ministry in a statement.

The statement said the rescue group includes teams from local medical rescue services and police forces and the relief package includes a field hospital and rescue unit.

Meanwhile, the ministry also expressed the Jewish state's solidarity with the Haitian government and people, and sent condolences to victims of the Tuesday cataclysm.

"Israel is doing all in its power to help the people of Haiti cope with the disaster in their country," said the statement.

The Israeli aid came amid a flurry of relief efforts from across the world since a magnitude-7.0 quake hit Haiti on Tuesday, reducing large areas of its capital to rubble and presumably claiming thousands of lives.

(Xinhua News Agency January 15, 2010)