American Doctor At Israel Hospital Injured By Gunfire From Syria
Image by getty images
JERUSALEM (JTA) — An American doctor working in an Israeli field hospital in the Golan Heights was injured by gunfire from Syria.
The doctor, who was not named, was treating Syrians wounded in the country’s long-running civil war as part of the Israel Defense Forces’ Operation Good Neighbor when he was injured on Tuesday evening, according to the IDF.
The doctor was treated at the scene. The field hospital is located adjacent to the Syrian border.
As a result of the shots fired, one foreign staff member was lightly injured. The incident is being investigated & was possibly stray fire.
— IDF (@IDFSpokesperson) October 10, 2017
The gunfire is believed to be accidental spillover from fighting in the civil war, though the incident is under investigation, according to the IDF. Dozens of mortar and gunfire from Syria has landed on Israel, most in the Golan Heights, during the fighting. The IDF has responded to most of these incidents with return fire.
Over 4,000 people have been brought to Israel to receive medical treatment, among them hundreds of children, the IDF said. The military also transfers medicine, supplies and equipment, as well as food to Syrians across the border.
A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
