The International Christian Embassy Jerusalem has responded to Israel’s current war crisis with numerous urgent relief and aid projects, including the donation of four new ambulances to help replace the dozens of Israeli ambulances destroyed during and since the Hamas massacres of Oct. 7.
The donated vehicles include an advanced, fully-equipped military ambulance to serve Israeli communities near the Gaza border; two ambulances for the nationwide fleet of Magen David Adom; and a special ambulance to serve elderly Holocaust survivors in Haifa and northern Israel.
The military ambulance was dedicated in a special ceremony at an Israel Defense Forces medical training base near Beersheva in January. The Czech branches of the ICEJ and Jewish National Fund jointly raised the funds for the ambulance to serve the residents of Kibbutz Be’eri and the Eshkol Region, which were hard-hit during the Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist attacks. More than 110 members of Be’eri, including two paramedics, were murdered in the horrific terrorist attack, and 23 were taken hostage and are being held captive in the Gaza Strip.
Kibbutz Be’eri was chosen as a beneficiary because its story reminded many Czechs of the brutal Nazi destruction of the village of Lidice in 1942. The initiative also arose from video footage of Hamas gunmen shooting up an ambulance during their rampage through Be’eri.
Meantime, Christian supporters of Israel in Switzerland and the United States have funded the purchase of two fully-equipped ambulances through Magen David Adom.
A fourth ambulance has been donated by the ICEJ to serve Holocaust survivors in northern Israel, including residents of a retirement home for needy Holocaust survivors in Haifa. The ambulance will be operated by the ICEJ’s local charitable partner, Yad Ezer L’Haver.