A United Nations plane carrying seven seriously ill Yemenis took off from the rebel-held capital, Sana, on Monday, what aid officials hope is the start of an ongoing humanitarian airlift to save the country’s most desperate citizens.

The mercy flight to Jordan, the first from northern Yemen in three years, also offered a glimmer of hope for faltering diplomatic efforts to broker an end to a grinding five-year war that pushed much of the country to the brink of starvation.

The seven people onboard the flight require urgent treatment for life-threatening conditions, such as kidney transplants, aid officials said. An additional 23 Yemenis, most of them women and children, are expected to follow by the end of the week on flights to Jordan and Egypt.

“This is a very important day,” Lise Grande, the United Nations’ resident coordinator for Yemen, told reporters in Sana.