Israel’s United Hatzalah First Responders Provide Aid to Ukrainian Refugees [VIDEO]

The Israeli first response organization United Hatzalah deployed on Sunday a team of 15 volunteers to provide humanitarian assistance in Moldova, as refugees fleeing Ukraine arrive. The organization chartered an El Al Israel Airlines plane to replenish food and humanitarian goods as supplies rapidly dwindle.

On Wednesday, the organization announced that it had chartered a second plane in partnership with El Al, to bring 15 tons of medical supplies, food, and humanitarian aid to Ukrainian refugees at the Moldova border. Many of the supplies were donated by Israeli and international companies and organizations operating in Israel that were eager to join the relief effort, such as Osem, Wissotzky, Strauss, Innovation Africa, Nestle, and Sano, to name a few.

The flight, set to depart from Ben-Gurion International Airport just after 6 am on Thursday, will bring an additional 40 medical personnel, EMTs, paramedics, doctors, psychologists, and therapists to join the team already on the ground.

Once the supplies have been unloaded and sent to United Hatzalah’s team on the ground in Chisinau, the plane will fly back to Tel Aviv carrying 150 Ukrainian refugees who have Israeli citizenship.

“The complexity of this operation is immense. It involves travel permits, diplomatic relations, and travel between three countries by land and by air and there was an incredible amount of logistics involved,” says Eli Beer, president and founder of United Hatzalah. “Our teams both in Israel and Moldova have been working around the clock on this operation in order to get everything ready. This will be one of our proudest moments as an organization.”

In an exclusive interview with The Media Line, Linor Attias, a volunteer and member of the Hatzalah psycho-trauma unit, speaks of the toll the war is having on families and individuals. Young children along with their parents are living on food rations. Attias tells TML that basic necessities are virtually impossible to obtain.