Israel in haiti

updates of IDF Medical and Rescue Team in Haiti: @IDFinHaiti

The Israel Project offers its condolences to the victims of the earthquake in Haiti.

Israeli and Jewish groups continue their efforts to provide relief to the people of Haiti.[1]

On Jan. 15, the Israel Defense Forces’ emergency aid team arrived in Haiti, consisting of a medical mission and search and rescue teams.[2] The team has established a major field hospital adjacent to Port-au-Prince’s soccer stadium, which is reported to be one of the largest medical facilities currently operating in Haiti with the capacity to treat up to 500 patients per day.[3] The field hospital is equipped with:

•Operating rooms
•An intensive care ward
•A maternity ward
•Pediatrics ward
•Incubator units
•Pharmacy
•X-ray equipment
•10 tons of medical equipment
•90 beds, 66 intensive care beds and two delivery beds
•Approximately 250 personnel, including 40 doctors and specialists, 20 nurses and several paramedics.[4]
The IDF search and rescue teams include about 30 operators and dozens of operations personnel including logistics IT, communications and canine units.[5]

The IDF rescued a 52-year old man from the ruins of a government office building Jan 17 after he communicated his location by SMS.[6] The Israeli team worked for six hours before finally freeing him.[7]

On Sunday, (Jan. 17), a baby boy was delivered inside the Israeli field hospital. The mother of the child said she would call him Israel. [7]


Israeli emergency response service (ZAKA) volunteers on the ground in Haiti rescued eight students from the rubble of a flattened university building in Port au-Prince, Haiti, on Saturday (Jan. 16).[8] Deploying a six-man team, ZAKA worked for 38 hours with a Mexican military team to rescue the students.[9]

The team is comprised of observant Jews who continued with their life-saving activities over the Jewish Sabbath because Jewish law instructs that Sabbath can be broken to save a life. “With all the hell going on outside, even when things get bad, Judaism says we must take a deep breath and go on to save more people" said Commander of the ZAKA mission to Haiti Mati Goldstein in an interview with Israeli news outlet YnetNews.[10]