Planeload of Israeli aid, medical volunteers sets out for Moldova-Ukraine border

A plane carrying 15 tons of humanitarian aid for Ukrainian refugees from Israel’s United Hatzalah organization is being loaded up at Ben Gurion Airport for teams working on the ground at border crossings from Moldova.

The flight, which will reach Moldova via Romania, will also transport a 40-strong team of medical personnel who will join a group of volunteers the organization sent earlier this week to work at three field hospitals the rescue organization is setting up at Moldova’s Ukraine border for people fleeing Russia’s invasion.

The team is made up of EMTs, paramedics and doctors, as well as members of the organization’s Psychotrauma and Crisis Response Unit, which provides aid in the field for people who are undergoing trauma. Many of medics expect to be deployed for around two weeks, but the fast-moving crisis means that many could be away from home for longer.

Much of the aid on the plane is medical equipment for the field hospitals, but there is also food, warm clothing, blankets, heat pads, diapers, formula and feminine hygiene products – many of the supplies have been donated by a number of Israeli companies.

In a move that distinguishes the team from other aid organizations, they are also transporting two Torah scrolls for religious members of their teams on the ground.

The plane will return to Israel later in the day carrying some 150 refugees with Israeli citizenship back to Israel.

“The complexity of this operation is immense. It involves travel permits, diplomatic relations, and travel between three countries by land and by air,” says Eli Beer, president of United Hatzalah.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the international body’s refugee agency, said Wednesday that over 1 million people are now refugees as a result of the fighting in Ukraine, with concerns that figure will keep climbing. There were 44 million Ukrainians on the eve of the invasion.

Refugees are crossing the borders from Ukraine into neighboring countries to the west — Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Hungary and Moldova.

The airlift is the latest in a number of deliveries sent from Israel this week to Ukraine and its neighboring countries to deal with the growing humanitarian crisis there.