December 12, 2018, Updated December 26, 2018
An Israeli soldier cradling a child at the Israeli field hospital near the Syrian border. Photo courtesy of IDF Spokesman’s Office

For more than five years, the Israel Defense Forces worked together with official and grassroots organizations and hospitals to provide many forms of relief to Syrian victims of the brutal civil war just over the Israeli border.

The situation became desperate in July as Assad’s army was forcing more and more Syrians from their homes to refugee camps on Israel’s doorstep, and Israel accordingly stepped up its efforts to provide Israeli medical care, food, clothing, shelter and other material goods to civilians — mainly women and children — from this enemy country, often at great expense and personal risk.