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How the IDF is Helping Lead Israel's Battle Against COVID-19

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JERUSALEM, Israel - As COVID-19 forces the world to think out of the box, people are taking on roles they never imagined and that includes the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).

From hi-tech warfare against rockets from Gaza and Hezbollah tunnels to cybersecurity and troops on the ground, the IDF is cutting edge.  Now, due to COVID-19, the IDF has expanded its mission. 

“A key part of the national situation is to provide information so there are call centers up that have been manned by IDF personnel together with Magen David Adom and the Ministry of Health and other officials,” said IDF Spokesman Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus.

Conricus says while it’s early in the process, the IDF is rolling with the changes.

“It’s really an overall effort with different parts of the IDF, the logistic teams, the medical corps, and even technological units are providing novel adaptations to existing technologies, for instance, adapting different ventilators to hospital use,” Conricus told CBN News.

And there’s more.

“Another example of what we are part of again through the Home Front Command, which is part of the IDF, is to actually re-fit hotels as makeshift hospitals or centers for quarantine and treatment for those suffering from mild symptoms,” Conricus added.

Another mission is to help the elderly, needy and at-risk populations.

“IDF soldiers are going door-to-door to provide food, medicine, and any other services that and assistance needed to various parts of Israel different low-income neighborhoods and the elderly and people who need that assistance,” Conricus said.

One of those soldiers is Sgt. Roni Koren, in the Home Front Command’s Search and Rescue unit.

I think everyone is having a really hard time right now and at the end of the day we’re the people that are here to help the people of Israel,” Koren told CBN News

The IDF is providing both prepared meals and boxes of groceries to those in need.

“Every house I’ve been to, everyone who comes up to us, everyone who opens the door is always happy to see us,” Koren said. “I think it’s an amazing thing to be doing to be able to help these people who have it even harder during this time.”

Koren says even though times are tough that shouldn’t stop people from reaching out.

“There’s a great opportunity in seeing the good in this and trying to help because I feel like at the end of the day even though we are socially distanced we’re here for one another,” she said.  “And I think during these hard times – we shouldn’t take social distancing to a place of distancing (ourselves) and not wanting to help.”

In addition to the humanitarian aid, the IDF has also stepped in to help the Israeli Police enforce the lockdown. But Conricus says the IDF’s first mission remains the same. 

“First to continue to defend the State of Israel. None of our enemies have dissolved and they will continue to try to kill Israeli civilians the day after they finish reeling from the results of the virus. As such we need to stand guard along our borders, 24-7 and that is what we are doing and that is priority number one,” he said.

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About The Author

Julie Stahl
Julie
Stahl

Julie Stahl is a correspondent for CBN News in the Middle East. A Hebrew speaker, she has been covering news in Israel full-time for more than 20 years. Julie’s life as a journalist has been intertwined with CBN – first as a graduate student in Journalism, then as a journalist with Middle East Television (METV) when it was owned by CBN from 1989-91, and now with the Middle East Bureau of CBN News in Jerusalem since 2009. As a correspondent for CBN News, Julie has covered Israel’s wars with Gaza, rocket attacks on Israeli communities, stories on the Jewish communities in Judea, Samaria, and the