As rockets pound northern Israel, the sound of sirens and explosions has become all too familiar. Amid the chaos, an assortment of medical teams, security officials and local volunteers rush to protect the area’s critical health-care infrastructure. Patients are being moved to underground facilities, hospitals are securing backup power sources, and doctors and nurses—many of whom have already endured personal losses—are making sure they arrive for their shifts. Yad Sarah—the largest nonprofit humanitarian medical equipment and associated social-services organization in Israel—is part of these efforts as well, providing crucial equipment and support services as the conflict intensifies. Demand for those services is now up four-fold since the war against Hezbollah in the north intensified last week, and everyone is working around the clock to meet these needs, despite the dangers.
This past Monday, a rocket fell 30 meters (100 feet) from a Yad Sarah volunteer driver in Kiryat Bialik, outside of Haifa, while he was delivering a hospital bed to a woman returning home from treatment. On Wednesday, a Hezbollah rocket struck a house in Safed, where one of our volunteers had recently delivered home hospital equipment; fortunately, no one was hurt. But despite the dangers posed by the conflict, Yad Sarah volunteers remain committed to their life-saving work. Our northern branches remain open, except when security officials deem it too dangerous. They deliver essential medical supplies, such as oxygen machines, wheelchairs, crutches and nebulizers, to any resident in need.
The collective response is a testament to the physical resilience that defines the Israeli north. But resilience is not solely a matter of logistical preparedness. Resilience is also social, grounded in the spirit of unity and coexistence that defines the Israeli health-care system. In northern Israel, where diverse communities of Jews, Muslims, Christians and Druze live side by side, hospitals and clinics serve as microcosms of a shared society where doctors, nurses, patients and volunteers all come from varied backgrounds. One might think that in times like this, when tensions are at their highest, it would be easy for old divisions—religious, ethnic or political—to resurface. Yet within our organization and broader health-care system, the greater good takes precedence.
Local medical professionals and volunteers from all backgrounds work side by side under unimaginable pressure to tend to the wounded, treat the ill or deliver babies in underground emergency rooms. Jewish and Muslim nurses work together to ensure that life-saving treatments, like dialysis and chemotherapy, continue uninterrupted while Druze volunteers coordinate the transfer of elderly patients from bombarded towns to safer areas. In this space, where life itself hangs in the balance, all that matters is the shared dedication to humanity and the commitment to protect and heal those in need.
This is now happening constantly across Israel’s north, as Yad Sarah and others work in difficult circumstances to make sure anyone in need, regardless of religion or nationality, is able to get the equipment and care they need.
In Nazareth, for example, Christian and Muslim residents alike are turning to nearby branches in Afula and Nazareth Illit for essential medical equipment. After a rocket landed in Jadeida-Makar, an Arab town near Acre, residents reached out to Yad Sarah there to ask about installing safety rails in their homes for quicker and safer evacuations when sirens sound. These safety rails along with crutches and wheelchairs—all of which help people get to bomb shelters quicker and in a safer manner—are among the most in-demand items. Others include oxygen cylinders and battery-powered oxygen generators that can run during blackouts that occur during rocket impacts.
This cooperation and support throughout society has been the environment at Yad Sarah long before this intense week; as for the past 11 months, ever since Oct. 8—one day after the Hamas terrorist attacks and atrocities in southern Israel—Hezbollah rockets have rained down on Jewish, Christian, Muslim and Druze communities alike. This cooperation and co-existence has been at the foundation of Yad Sarah since its inception nearly 50 years ago.
While the circumstances were heartbreakingly unfortunate, a recent demonstration of this solidarity came following the tragic July 27 attack that killed 12 youth in the Druze-majority town of Majdal Shams. Yad Sarah had recently established a branch in the town whose volunteers have close bonds with those at surrounding regional branches. As the town reeled and the nation grieved, members of the network came to support the organization’s local branch and pay their respects to the bereaved families—relatives of two of our volunteers. Regardless of religion or background, volunteers also sprung to action to deliver surplus rehabilitation equipment to the hospitals treating those injured in the attack.
We know that we are stronger working together. Israel’s health-care professionals do not see patients or colleagues as members of opposing sides in a conflict. We are living in a war zone, and this is now driving our current work. As we continue to meet immediate needs and plan for the worst, we have an entire system of generator-powered oxygen stations ready to open across the country in case of war-related power outages. At the same time, we demonstrate that peace is not just an abstract ideal but something that can be practiced every day, even under the most challenging circumstances.
Many preach it. We practice it, day in and day out.
