Israeli search-and-rescue group United Hatzalah is leaving Turkey after six days on the ground due to a “significant security threat” targeting the group, it announced Sunday.
United Hatzalah chief executive Eli Pollack and vice president of operations Dov Maisel said in a statement they had “received intelligence of a concrete and immediate threat on the Israeli delegation and we have to put the security of our personnel first.”
“We knew that there was a certain level of risk in sending our team to this area of Turkey, which is close to the Syrian border but we took the necessary steps in order to mitigate the threat for the sake of our lifesaving mission,” Maisel said.
The decision came following a “a joint situational assessment with the heads of the [Israel Defense Forces] Home Front Command and Search and Rescue Units which took place on Saturday night,” they said.
Due to the speed of the group’s departure and “lack of available planes,” Miriam Adelson – the widow of the late American Republican megadonor Sheldon Adelson – donated her private jet to fly the team back to Israel on Sunday.
“We are extremely proud of what our team has accomplished in just a few days, assisting in the rescue of 15 individuals in cooperation with the IDF Home Front Command, Israel’s Search and Rescue units, local rescue forces, and the Turkish Red Cross,” Maisel said. “I want to thank Dr. Adelson for assisting us in bringing our people back quickly and safely.”
A second Israeli aid group, IsraAid, continues to operate in Turkey.
CNN has reached out to the Israel Defense Forces team in Turkey to see whether it is also departing.
Recovery in Turkey after the devastating earthquake has now entered the “humanitarian phase,” according to Jamie LeSueur, the head of emergency operations at the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.
As his team moves on from search-and-rescue operations, the greatest needs for those affected in Turkey continue to be food, health and water, LeSueur told CNN from Gaziantep.
“We’ve now entered into the humanitarian phase. That is going to last for a couple of months, where we’ll still try to meet people’s basic needs,” LeSueur said.
The organization is receiving many winterized tents right now due to cold weather, but it is looking into pre-fabricated transitional shelter options, he said. Most of the population is too afraid to go inside, even if their homes have not been completely destroyed.
“We want to get them out of the humanitarian phase as quickly as possible, into something sustainable and transitional that’s going to keep them safe for a long time,” the crisis responder said.
LeSueur added that his team is preparing for any eventuality, including the spread of diseases, and they are coordinating with the Turkish Red Crescent about sanitation needs.
The Red Cross is well-positioned to deal with needs in southern Turkey, he said, but also in hard-hit areas of northwestern Syria, where aid has been more complicated due to years of civil war.
“In Turkey, we’ve established an operation that goes to the border with Syria, and in Syria, we’re using the Syrian Arab Red Crescent that going up to the Turkish border; we’re trying to cover the entire operational area with two national societies,” he said.
Recovery in Turkey after the devastating earthquake has now entered the “humanitarian phase,” according to Jamie LeSueur, the head of emergency operations at the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.
As his team moves on from search-and-rescue operations, the greatest needs for those affected in Turkey continue to be food, health and water, LeSueur told CNN from Gaziantep.
“We’ve now entered into the humanitarian phase. That is going to last for a couple of months, where we’ll still try to meet people’s basic needs,” LeSueur said.
The organization is receiving many winterized tents right now due to cold weather, but it is looking into pre-fabricated transitional shelter options, he said. Most of the population is too afraid to go inside, even if their homes have not been completely destroyed.
“We want to get them out of the humanitarian phase as quickly as possible, into something sustainable and transitional that’s going to keep them safe for a long time,” the crisis responder said.
LeSueur added that his team is preparing for any eventuality, including the spread of diseases, and they are coordinating with the Turkish Red Crescent about sanitation needs.
The Red Cross is well-positioned to deal with needs in southern Turkey, he said, but also in hard-hit areas of northwestern Syria, where aid has been more complicated due to years of civil war.
“In Turkey, we’ve established an operation that goes to the border with Syria, and in Syria, we’re using the Syrian Arab Red Crescent that going up to the Turkish border; we’re trying to cover the entire operational area with two national societies,” he said.
Medical supplies from China’s Red Cross arrive in Damascus, Syria, on February 10. (VCG/Getty Images)
Recovery in Turkey after the devastating earthquake has now entered the “humanitarian phase,” according to Jamie LeSueur, the head of emergency operations at the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.
As his team moves on from search-and-rescue operations, the greatest needs for those affected in Turkey continue to be food, health and water, LeSueur told CNN from Gaziantep.
“We’ve now entered into the humanitarian phase. That is going to last for a couple of months, where we’ll still try to meet people’s basic needs,” LeSueur said.
The organization is receiving many winterized tents right now due to cold weather, but it is looking into pre-fabricated transitional shelter options, he said. Most of the population is too afraid to go inside, even if their homes have not been completely destroyed.
“We want to get them out of the humanitarian phase as quickly as possible, into something sustainable and transitional that’s going to keep them safe for a long time,” the crisis responder said.
LeSueur added that his team is preparing for any eventuality, including the spread of diseases, and they are coordinating with the Turkish Red Crescent about sanitation needs.
The Red Cross is well-positioned to deal with needs in southern Turkey, he said, but also in hard-hit areas of northwestern Syria, where aid has been more complicated due to years of civil war.
“In Turkey, we’ve established an operation that goes to the border with Syria, and in Syria, we’re using the Syrian Arab Red Crescent that going up to the Turkish border; we’re trying to cover the entire operational area with two national societies,” he said.
Photos from across southern Turkey and northern Syria show scenes of devastation and suffering as hopes fade of finding survivors more than four days after Monday’s massive earthquake struck the region.
Personnel conduct search and rescue operations in Islahiye district of Gaziantep, Turkey, after 7.7 and 7.6 magnitude earthquakes hit Kahramanmaras, on February 10, 2023. (Cebrail Caymaz/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)
More than 21,000 people have died in both countries and rescue workers are now racing against time to pull survivors from the rubble of collapsed buildings in freezing winter conditions.
At least 78,124 people were injured across Turkey and Syria, according to authorities.
People rescued by rsecue group ISAR Germany, wait by a fire during the rescue operation in Kirikhan, Turkey on February 10. (Piroschka van de Wouw/Reuters)
A UN aid convoy crossed from Turkey into northwestern Syria on Thursday for the first time since the earthquake hit. The six trucks carrying shelter items and Non-Food Items (NFI) drove through the Bab Al Hawa border crossing, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
People walk through the destroyed center of Antakya, Turkey on February 9. (Anne Pollmann/picture-alliance/dpa/AP)
UN Secretary-General António Guterres said he is open to the idea of delivering aid via additional border crossings, other than the Bab al-Hawa, which is the only humanitarian aid corridor approved by the UN between Turkey and rebel-held areas of northern Syria.
Personnel and civilians conduct search and rescue operations in Afrin district of Aleppo, Syria on February 9. (Bekir Kasim/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)
In Syria, the earthquake’s devastation heaps misery on top of an existing humanitarian crisis resulting from a more than decade-long civil war. Millions living in northwest Syria, much of which is controlled by anti-government rebels, were already suffering from the effects of extreme poverty and a cholera outbreak when the quake hit.
Now many are fending for themselves, as many Western nations have refused to send aid directly to the Syrian regime, which is under US and EU sanctions.
A woman sits near the rubble of destroyed buildings in the city of Atarib, in the western countryside of Aleppo. (Independent Doctors Association)
The Syria Civil Defense, known as the White Helmets, has warned that the hope of finding survivors is fading inside the country.
Mousa Zidane, a volunteer with the group told CNN on Thursday that in the aftermath of the quakes, “tens of thousands of families are currently homeless all over northwest Syria.”
The cold weather is adding to the catastrophe, he said, as rescue teams struggle to extract people from under the rubble.
Volunteers, independent non-profits and rescue organizations are working to rescue civilians from the rubble of destroyed buildings in the city of Atarib, in the western countryside of Aleppo. (Independent Doctors Association)
In the rebel-held Idlib governorate, a man told AFPTV on Thursday he had been digging through rubble with his hands as he searched for 30 relatives in the village of Besnaya.
Malik Ibrahim, 40, said he had retrieved 10 bodies, after searching for two days without sleep.
“It’s ineffable, words fail me, it’s tragic,” he said. “The whole family is gone, and all our memories are buried with them.”
Photos from across southern Turkey and northern Syria show scenes of devastation and suffering as hopes fade of finding survivors more than four days after Monday’s massive earthquake struck the region.
Personnel conduct search and rescue operations in Islahiye district of Gaziantep, Turkey, after 7.7 and 7.6 magnitude earthquakes hit Kahramanmaras, on February 10, 2023. (Cebrail Caymaz/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)
More than 21,000 people have died in both countries and rescue workers are now racing against time to pull survivors from the rubble of collapsed buildings in freezing winter conditions.
At least 78,124 people were injured across Turkey and Syria, according to authorities.
People rescued by rsecue group ISAR Germany, wait by a fire during the rescue operation in Kirikhan, Turkey on February 10. (Piroschka van de Wouw/Reuters)
A UN aid convoy crossed from Turkey into northwestern Syria on Thursday for the first time since the earthquake hit. The six trucks carrying shelter items and Non-Food Items (NFI) drove through the Bab Al Hawa border crossing, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
People walk through the destroyed center of Antakya, Turkey on February 9. (Anne Pollmann/picture-alliance/dpa/AP)
UN Secretary-General António Guterres said he is open to the idea of delivering aid via additional border crossings, other than the Bab al-Hawa, which is the only humanitarian aid corridor approved by the UN between Turkey and rebel-held areas of northern Syria.
Personnel and civilians conduct search and rescue operations in Afrin district of Aleppo, Syria on February 9. (Bekir Kasim/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)
In Syria, the earthquake’s devastation heaps misery on top of an existing humanitarian crisis resulting from a more than decade-long civil war. Millions living in northwest Syria, much of which is controlled by anti-government rebels, were already suffering from the effects of extreme poverty and a cholera outbreak when the quake hit.
Now many are fending for themselves, as many Western nations have refused to send aid directly to the Syrian regime, which is under US and EU sanctions.
A woman sits near the rubble of destroyed buildings in the city of Atarib, in the western countryside of Aleppo. (Independent Doctors Association)
The Syria Civil Defense, known as the White Helmets, has warned that the hope of finding survivors is fading inside the country.
Mousa Zidane, a volunteer with the group told CNN on Thursday that in the aftermath of the quakes, “tens of thousands of families are currently homeless all over northwest Syria.”
The cold weather is adding to the catastrophe, he said, as rescue teams struggle to extract people from under the rubble.
Volunteers, independent non-profits and rescue organizations are working to rescue civilians from the rubble of destroyed buildings in the city of Atarib, in the western countryside of Aleppo. (Independent Doctors Association)
In the rebel-held Idlib governorate, a man told AFPTV on Thursday he had been digging through rubble with his hands as he searched for 30 relatives in the village of Besnaya.
Malik Ibrahim, 40, said he had retrieved 10 bodies, after searching for two days without sleep.
“It’s ineffable, words fail me, it’s tragic,” he said. “The whole family is gone, and all our memories are buried with them.”
