In response to the emergency situation facing Israel because of the Hamas rocket and missile attacks, AJC announced today a grant to the Barzilai Medical Center in Israel. With the $50,000 grant from AJC's Israel Emergency Fund and Heilbrunn Humanitarian Fund, Barzilai will purchase an anesthesia machine for its emergency room.
"The Barzilai Medical Center team, in this critical time of an intense rockets assault from Hamas and other terror groups in Gaza, continues to demonstrate exceptional resilience, compassion and love of life – even as Israel's enemies in Hamas-controlled Gaza glorify death," said AJC Executive Director David Harris, who has visited Barzilai during previous conflicts with Hamas.
Barzilai, located in Ashkelon, is the main hospital in the southern region of the country, servicing Israelis, Jews and Arabs alike, including patients from Gaza.
An AJC delegation visited Barzilai Medical Center in 2009, during Operation Cast Lead, when Israel entered Gaza to quell Hamas rockets. Following that visit, AJC provided a grant to purchase emergency medical equipment for the hospital's trauma center.
In 2012, during a Hamas escalation of firing rockets into Israel, a substantial AJC grant enabled Barzilai to purchase a mobile X-ray apparatus and a Plasma Sterrad Sterilizer.
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