In the 24 hours until 19:15 MDA teams treated 20 casualties, including 4 injured by glass shards in the Ashdod region – a 55 year old male in serious condition, and three further males aged 66, 46 and 35 in mild condition. 6 casualties injured while seeking shelter in Ashdod, Tel Aviv and Bat Yam and 10 patients with anxiety symptoms.

Since the start of the war, MDA teams have treated thousands of casualties, including fatalities, and those injured in serious, moderate and mild condition, amongst them MDA staff who were saving lives. Continuing today, (Tuesday 31.10) MDA teams are on high alert. Some 1,400 MDA ambulances, including bulletproof are manned by MDA staff and volunteers who are saving lives, at times while under fire.

MDA Blood Services held blood drives today in Nili, Nof Hagalil, Harish, Givat Avni, Dimona, Jerusalem, the MDA Blood Services Center in Sheba Tel Hashomer Hospital, and in Yehud-Monoson.

Since the onset of war (Saturday 7.10), MDA’s Blood Services have collected more than 57,000 blood donations from the public, and the blood components have been supplied to all hospitals for treatment of the casualties. The Magen David Adom Human Milk Bank has, since the outbreak of the Iron Swords War, supplied hundreds of liters of mothers’ milk to infants and premature babies who have been orphaned, whose mothers have been kidnapped or injured, and to babies whose mothers have been recruited into the IDF. Nursing mothers (in Israel) who are interested in donating mothers’ milk should email milkbank@mda.org.il or message via WhatsApp on 052-6344101.

Magen David Adom has been holding emergency first aid courses for free for the general public. In the short 3-hour course, is run by MDA instructors, and is intended for groups of up to 25 people. The course is held in safe rooms that abide by the rules of the Home Front Command. To register for a course, send the word “Course” by WhatsApp to 03-6880022.

Since the war began, MDA helicopters have carried out dozens of evacuation flights to and from hospitals such as Sheba, Beilinson, Ichilov, Shamir Asaf Harofe, Shaare Zedek, and Hadassah Ein Kerem, transporting dozens of injured civilians and soldiers from the field and from hospitals in the south. After initial treatment in the southern hospitals of Barzilai and Soroka, dozens of ambulances, intensive care vehicles, and specialized evacuation vehicles of Magen David Adom transferred injured individuals of all severity levels to hospitals throughout the country.

MDA calls on the public to heed the life-saving instructions of the security forces. For any medical need, dial 101 to reach MDA’s emergency hotline and to donate blood during the week at locations published on the MDA website: https://www.mdais.org/blood-donation