(JNS.org) Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the foreign ministry is exploring ways to provide assistance to Syrian civilian casualties from the fighting in Aleppo.
“We see the tragedy of the terrible suffering of the civilians,” Netanyahu said at an end-of-the-year event Tuesday with foreign press. “We are prepared to take in wounded women and children, and also men if they are not combatants. Bring them to Israel, [we will] take care of them in our hospitals as we have done with thousands of Syrian civilians. We are looking into ways of doing this. It is being explored as we speak.”
While Israel has treated over 2,000 Syrians in its hospitals since the war began, most of those injured Syrians were from areas close to the Israeli-Syrian border in the Golan Heights. According to one Israeli government official, Israel is attempting to determine how to transfer civilians from Aleppo, which is a much more complicated logistical issue, the Jerusalem Post reported.
Netanyahu added that he does not believe there is a clear solution to the situation in Syria right now and that the country is likely to be fractured for the foreseeable future.
“Will it come together and be a unified Syria? I doubt it,” Netanyahu said. “I think you have enclaves there and they are not about to disappear, but the suffering is great, and the one initiative we took is to help—as I said—thousands of Syrians who are sometimes mutilated beyond belief. We help them. I offered to do more today. I don’t know if we can resolve [the crisis in] Syria, but we can help mitigate some of the suffering. That is the best that Israel can do.”