Wounded Syrian shuttled to Safed hospital

Israeli soldiers on Monday brought an injured Syrian citizen into the country, the latest in a steady stream of wounded from the Syrian civil war that the Jewish state has allowed into its territory for treatment.

The Syrian man, who was suffering from moderate gunshot and shrapnel wounds, was transferred by the IDF to Ziv Medical Center in Safed.

On Thursday two other Syrian casualties were brought to Ziv, which due to its location near the Israel-Syria border has received a majority of the Syrians Israel has treated so far. The week before last, three seriously injured Syrians were treated there.

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 in late June. 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.

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. The IDF has also set up a field hospital in the Golan to treat less serious injuries.

“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.”

Asher Zeiger contributed to this report.