An Israeli delegation of experts in the fields of search, rescue and medicine left on Sunday night (10 November) for the Philippines, which was struck by a natural disaster earlier today. The rescuers are part of the IDF’s Home Front Command.

A six-member advance team – four people from the IDF Home Front Command and two from the Foreign Ministry – willevaluate what is needed on the ground before Israel sends a larger mission. They will perform a thorough situation assessment, including an infrastructure evaluation, that will determine the best rapid response Israel can provide to the government and people of the Philippines.

Israel has frequently offered aid in the wake of disasters overseas, such as the earthquake in Haiti in January 2010 and an earthquake in Turkey in 2011.

The IsraAID humanitarian organization also sent a team of seven medical professionals to Tacloban City in the storm-ravaged Philippines to provide critical health interventions in the affected region. IsraAID, too, will continue to assess needs in the field and offer aid accordingly, including trauma professionals and child protection specialists.