The State of Israel has announced it will accept 100 Syrian children who were orphaned in the civil war across the northern border, according to a plan approved by Interior Minister Aryeh Deri, Israel’s Channel 10 television news reported Wednesday night (Jan. 25).
This is the first time that Israel will accept refugees from Syria since the start of its civil war in March 2011. The children will be integrated into Israeli Arab families with the status of temporary residents and will receive identity cards and passports.
According to the report, the children will first stay for three months at a boarding school, and then will attend educational institutions provided by the Ministry of Education.
There is a possibility that immediate family members of the children will also be accepted if they are found alive, the site reported.
The government presently intends to promise the United Nations that after four years in Israel, the children can upgrade their status to full citizenship. As such, they will be allowed to remain in the country for the rest of their lives.
Since the start of the conflict, Israel has provided medical care for those wounded who have made their way to the border. More than 2,000 injured Syrians have been treated in the Jewish State – 600 in Ziv Medical Center in Tzefat alone – since December 2013.
The IDF created a field hospital in the Golan Heights to provide on-site medical care to minimize the need for admitting large numbers of Syrians to Israeli hospitals. Nevertheless, many of the very seriously wounded, particularly women and children, were brought across and into the country for enhanced care.
Moreover, there are several nonprofit organizations that have entered the war zone to help as well, including Amaliah (Hebrew for “the work of God”), which offers humanitarian aid for Syrians. The IDF coordinated a delivery to Syrians across the border of one ton of meat with Amaliah for the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha.