2 Syrians wounded in fighting brought to Safed

Israel does not admit refugees from war-torn neighbor, but has treated more than 100 injured from civil war

Israel allowed two injured Syrians to enter the country for treatment on Thursday.

The two were brought to Ziv Hospital in Safed in moderate condition, Israel Radio reported, after suffering gunshot wounds in fighting connected to the Syrian civil war.

Since the outbreak of fighting in Syrian in March 2011, more than 100 Syrian civilians have been treated in Israel, the Yedioth Ahronoth daily reported last week. According to the report, the Israeli government had downplayed the number of admitted patients, fearing that it would lead to an increase in Syrians seeking to enter.

On Saturday, three seriously injured Syrians were transferred to the hospital in Safed.

Israel has maintained that it will not allow refugees into the country, but it has treated a small number of wounded Syrians in Israeli hospitals near the Golan Heights.

According to the United Nations, more than 93,000 have been killed in Syria since the civil war to overthrow President Bashar Assad’s regime more than two years ago.

“Our policy is to help in humanitarian cases, and to that end we are operating a field hospital along the Syrian border,” Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon told the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee last month. “In cases where there are badly wounded, we transfer them to Israeli hospitals. We have no intention of opening refugee camps.”