On Friday night in what the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) have stated as being a “unique and complex medical operation”, six Syrians were received and treated last Friday night, including four children. According to reports from the Syrian side, the families of the children were killed in bombings during the fighting in Syria, and the children were rushed to Israel to receive treatment.
The medical operation concluded with the injured being brought to an undisclosed hospital in Northern Israel after the IDF soldiers present in Syria had given first aid to stabilise the conditions of the injured. The IDF has consistently brought Syrians across the border for medical assistance as an act of goodwill, and this is not restricted to the Syrian border as there have also been many examples of injured Gazan citizens being moved to Israel for medical assistance.
All those injured had shrapnel injuries right across their bodies and were in serious need of medical aid. This included a girl as young as six who was left unconscious due to injuries of the head. The IDF have identified that the injured children’s ages range from 6-14 and a 19 and 24 year old were also injured and required medical assistance.
The IDF has been providing additional humanitarian aid to Syrians as part of Operation Good Neighbour since 2016, a massive multi-faceted humanitarian relief operation to keep starvation away from the thousands of Syrians who live along the border and provide basic medical treatment to those who cannot access it because of the war.
In a statement made by an Israeli soldier, who cannot be named due to Army protocol, they have stated that “These are people who fled their homes with nothing … we realized we had to do something different.” Israel since the operation began two years ago has continuously supplied Syria with over 1,500 tonnes of food, 250 tonnes of clothing and nearly a million litres of fuel being dispatched through the duration of this humanitarian relief operation.
On top of this, in 2017 the IDF opened a clinic on the Israeli-Syrian border and have treated 6,000 people since it has been opened.
Israel has consistently shown that they will continue to support Syrian civilians in need of medical assistance but have also stated that they will not open its borders fully to allow thousands of refugees to cross in to Israel.
