Just months after 14 Magen David Adom ambulances were destroyed during Hamas’s Oct. 7 invasion of southern Israel, replacement vehicles donated by Samaritan’s Purse were dedicated on Tuesday in a ceremony in Jerusalem.
The ceremony also commemorated the four MDA medics killed during Hamas’s assault. Another 15 MDA medics have died in the ensuing war, most while serving in the Israel Defense Forces.
Each of the 14 ambulances was dedicated in memory of MDA staff killed in action. The inscriptions on the ambulances were unveiled one by one, as family and friends of the fallen looked on.
“I’ve had the opportunity to see for myself how the men and women of MDA are risking their lives for others when I visited several of the communities in Israel that were brutally attacked,” said Franklin Graham, the president and CEO of Samaritan’s Purse.
“At Samaritan’s Purse, we need to have the necessary equipment to do our work around the world, and MDA has to have the right equipment to do its work to save lives here in Israel. This is why we want to give MDA this gift to save lives,” he said.
Based in Boone, North Carolina, Samaritan’s Purse responds to physical and spiritual needs of individuals in crisis, providing aid to victims of war, disease, disaster, poverty, famine and persecution in more than 100 countries.
In addition to the 14 ambulances, the organization is donating seven armored ambulances to MDA, which are still in production and will be dedicated this spring.
“I thank the members of Samaritan’s Purse as well as their president Franklin Graham, for their generous donation of ambulances, which will help save many lives across the State of Israel during routine and emergency times. We thank them for their further donations towards the sacred cause of saving lives,” said MDA director general Eli Bin.