Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Fast Forward

2-Day-Old Syrian Refugee Baby Flown To Israel For Life-Saving Surgery

JERUSALEM (JTA) — A two-day-old baby born to Syrian refugee parents in Cyprus was flown to Israel to fix a severe heart defect.

The baby, who was born in a refugee camp in Cyprus, was airlifted to Israel on Friday night for the life-saving operation at Sheba Medical Center in Tel HaShomer. He arrived with his father.

Israel was alerted to the baby’s need after the Cypriot Health Ministry contacted Israeli Ambassador to Cyprus Sammy Revel and asked that the baby be allowed to enter Israel and receive treatment.  The Foreign Ministry then asked Interior Minister Aryeh Deri for permission to allow the baby and his father to enter Israel.

The baby is expected to undergo surgery on Monday. Following the surgery, the baby will have to remain under observation for a “period of time,” according to the hospital.

“Praying for a full and quick recovery,” the foreign affairs ministry said in a tweet.

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.

In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.

At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.

Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we still need 300 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.

Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly. 

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

Only 300 more gifts needed by April 30

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.