On a plane that was especially charted by United Hatzalah and converted into a flying intensive care unit, left Israel this morning on its way to Bucharest in a joint operation between the Jewish Agency, Beilinson Hospital (from Clalit), and United Hatzalah. The goal of the mission was to evacuate and transport a number of seriously ill Ukrainian refugees who had fled the fighting in their country and were received by the Jewish Agency’s immigration centers in Romania. The mission is taking place on Friday morning and the plane is currently making its way from Bucharest to Israel with the seriously ill patients onboard.
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The medical evac flight will be landing at Ben Gurion Airport with continuous medical supervision being provided by United Hatzalah’s doctors, paramedics, and EMTs, while en route. Once the plane lands, the patients will be taken by ambulances from the organization, which will be waiting on the tarmac, directly to Beilinson Hospital where they will receive expert medical care.
Prior to their evacuation, the patients were housed at a Jewish Agency facility in Bucharest, where they received medical care from Jewish Agency members and medical staff from Beilinson Hospital who were on location.
The Jewish Agency has been receiving refugees in centers in various countries that neighbor Ukraine including Romania, Poland, Hungary, and Moldova which is in partnership with the International Federation of Christians and Jews. Ukrainian refugees wishing to immigrate to Israel are being received at these centers and are provided with everything they need until they are able to immigrate to Israel and be received by the Ministry of Immigration and Absorption.
Special teams from Beilinson Hospital joined members of The Jewish Agency a number of weeks ago in order to provide medical care to refugees staying at the organization’s various facilities. Thousands of Jews who have fled the fighting in Ukraine and arrived at the centers, weary with travel and with almost none of their belongings, have received treatment from the Jewish Agency and Beilinson personnel staffing these centers.
Since the onset of the war, United Hatzalah has been conducting a humanitarian aid mission and providing medical care to Ukrainian refugees at the borders as well as in refugee centers in Moldova. The organization has also been conducting airlift rescue operations and bringing Ukrainian refugees to Israel through daily chartered flights from Moldova, Romania, and other countries. Thus far, United Hatzalah has brought more than 2,000 Ukrainian refugees to Israel through these efforts.
Chairman of the Executive of the World Zionist Organization Yaakov Hagoel said, “The Jewish Agency has a widespread presence in communities throughout the world and is therefore able to form the vanguard of assistance when it comes to humanitarian rescues. I wish a full and speedy recovery to the injured and sick and I await to see them recovering in safety here in Israeli hospitals.”
Director of Rabin Medical Center from Clalit, Dr. Eytan Wirtheim said: “As time goes by, our teams in Warsaw and Bucharest have to come to a clearer understanding of how great the distress is and how expansive the medical needs are. I am pleased that we are able to help these refugees heal and bring them hope. My heart widens at seeing the boundless efforts of our incredible teams who are working day and night in order to assist the refugees. This humanitarian work is the moral obligation of each and every one of us during this time.
President and Founder of United Hatzalah Eli Beer said, “This was a truly special operation that we managed to pull off thanks to the collaboration with the Jewish Agency and Beilinson Hospital. Our teams are now working in several countries to fly Ukrainian refugees to Israel as part of Operation Orange Wings. Wherever we have gone we have met with Jewish Agency representatives who have been incredibly helpful and are doing terrific work. Through collaborations such as these, we are succeeding at providing urgent medical care to Ukrainian refugees, Jewish and non-Jewish alike in this dire time. I want to thank both the Jewish Agency and Beilinson Hospital for their continuing partnership and work in helping us with this vital humanitarian and medical relief effort.”