IDF marks seven decades of global humanitarian relief efforts

The Israel Defense Forces commemorated World Humanitarian Day on Wednesday by enumerating landmark humanitarian missions it had carried out worldwide over the past seven decades.

The IDF’s first humanitarian relief effort took place in 1953 following 7.2-magnitude earthquakes that shook Greece’s islands.

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With no prior experience and despite limited equipment, “IDF Navy and Medical Corps teams improvised and demonstrated great resourcefulness as they provided medical treatment and delivered essential equipment, laying the foundations for Israel’s tradition of humanitarian assistance,” the army wrote.

In 1985, roughly 350 IDF reservists, including medical, search and rescue and engineering teams, were sent to Mexico City in the aftermath of a devastating tremor. Relief efforts marked a “milestone” in the development of Israel’s humanitarian assistance capabilities, the military said.

“The delegation provided medical treatment to the injured, assisted in rescue efforts, and worked alongside local forces in responding to the consequences of the disaster,” according to the IDF.

The Izmit earthquake in 1999 prompted the dispatch of search and rescue and medical teams from the IDF’s Home Front Command to Turkey. The teams located and rescued 12 individuals and provided medical treatment to approximately 1,200 injured people at a field hospital.

The mission to Haiti in 2010 following a devastating earthquake saw Israeli teams establish a field hospital, where they performed 317 surgeries and provided comprehensive medical services to approximately 1,110 people, the military said.

In 2015, Israel sent a large delegation of about 270 personnel from the Home Front Command and Medical Corps to Nepal following another earthquake.

The delegation operated with 95 tons of equipment, treated approximately 1,600 injured people, rescued people trapped under rubble, performed roughly 90 surgeries at a hospital field and assisted with eight births.

Following explosions at a military base in Equatorial Guinea in March 2021, some 60 IDF personnel were sent to the scene in the city of Bata. More than 700 patients were treated and 92 life-saving surgeries were performed by the Israeli medical teams.

In 2023, a large-scale Israeli delegation was deployed to Turkey following an earthquake. The Israeli search and rescue teams located and rescued 19 people and provided medical treatment and essential assistance to approximately 180 people.

As late as the summer of 2026, Israel sent a joint delegation of approximately 50 personnel from the Israeli Foreign Ministry, Home Front Command and the Israeli National Emergency Authority to Venezuela following two tremors that struck the north-central part of the country.

“These delegations operate with the goal of saving lives, providing medical treatment, locating people trapped under rubble, supplying essential equipment, and assisting in the recovery of communities affected by disasters and crises,” the IDF said, noting that reaching out and providing professional assistance can “offer hope and save lives.”

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