In order to bring emergency assistance to civilians injured or displaced by rockets launched from Gaza, the Magen David Adom (MDA) – Israel’s equivalent of the Red Cross, has mobilized additional volunteers, staff and material to the south of the country. Over the last 13 days, 4 people have been killed and 481 injured. Hundreds of others suffer from anxiety and emotional trauma.
Many homes, public buildings and schools were damaged, and the population has been trained to run to safety in shelters or the basement of their home as soon as the air alert sirens go off. Schools have been shut down and many shelters are being built in factories in the region. Hospital staff are carrying out surgery in underground facilities and patients are sometimes moved to hospitals in the north and centre of the country.
Emergency MDA teams in Sderot have been kept on high alert as they run between shelters when the alerts sound and then to the area where the rockets have fallen to treat the injured or take them to hospital. In addition, they help out Social Services teams in distributing food and other assistance to families in need. MDA Director General Eli Bin explained that “the activities being carried out in Sderot simply supplement the activities of the organisation for the community, whether it be saving lives or helping those in need.”
MDA has mobilized medical equipment and medicines - as well as extra staff and volunteers - from other regions of the country, to provide emergency medical services to the population. MDA has also evacuated the families of its staff and volunteers in the south and built additional shelters inside its emergency stations. It has added extra vehicles to its fleet to transport and evacuate the injured, increased blood donor recruitment, and intensified the distribution of preparedness brochures to the population, instructing them on the location of shelters and in first aid.
To cover staff and operational costs as well as the building of shelters for its emergency stations, MDA has launched a national appeal for 49.2 million shekels (12.6 million US$/9.5 million €).