Israel Emergency Response

Strong Israelis. A Strong Israel.

When Israel is in crisis, we are there. Israel is a country transformed by October 7th and the war that was ignited. Hundreds of thousands of Israelis who never needed social assistance before now rely on it to survive and build their future as the crisis continues. JDC is responding to these massive new needs, including emergency preparations to aid the millions of people in Haifa and across Northern Israel who are in the line of fire.

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Founded in 1914 to help starving Jews in Jerusalem at the outbreak of WWI and for more than 100 years since, JDC delivers critical support to the most vulnerable Israelis — the elderly, children and families at risk, people with disabilities, and the poor.

This expertise and deep roots in Israel aiding the most vulnerable Israelis who might otherwise be left behind is built on decades of partnership with Israeli NGOs, the business sector, the government, and local municipalities to solve challenges on a national scale.

Before the war, 1 million+ Israelis benefited weekly from JDC-developed social services.

Immediately following the horrors of October 7^th, JDC deployed a range of emergency services to save lives and aid tens of thousands of vulnerable Israelis facing trauma and bereavement, displacement, the loss of livelihoods, and destruction of property.

Now JDC is focused on building the future of Israel.

Treating Trauma and Building Resilience in Israel’s Youngest Children

83% of Israeli children are showing pronounced distress since October 7^th.

Tens of thousands of very young children, under the age of six, experienced unimaginable horrors since the start of the war. Children from the South barely escaped massacres. Evacuee children are far away from everything familiar to them. Children from the North are exposed to daily rocket fire and sirens.

Very young Israeli children of all backgrounds are living with profound behavioral changes: sleeplessness, loss of appetite, increased crying, temper tantrums, restlessness, and jumpiness. They need trauma treatment to reduce their suffering, prevent future PTSD, and ensure healthy development.

What We’ve Done Since October 7^th

JDC deployed emergency services addressing the needs of Israel’s traumatized young children and training their parents and teachers to do the same.

These interventions have reached nearly 13,000 of the most severely impacted children, their parents, and teachers as of April 2024. Interventions include:

Setting up and equipping 200 daycare centers in evacuee hotels
Providing the evidence-based Hibuki doll trauma therapy to children in extreme need.
Developing and implementing an innovative new system of play-based, creative trauma therapies tailored to the needs of kindergarten children