Israeli doctors screened Iraqi children suffering from heart disease.
The three doctors traveled to Jordan on behalf of the Save a Child’s Heart humanitarian organization, The Associated Press reported. The children will have surgery at the Wolfson Medical Center in Holon, Israel.
Funds for the screenings and surgeries come from private donations.
Dr. Sion Houri, director of the pediatric intensive care unit at Wolfson, told the AP he thought ties and friendship were being built through his work.
“Our only previous exchanges with the Iraqis are the Scud missiles,” he said, referring to the rockets fired on Israel during the 1991 Gulf War.
Save A Child’s Heart, founded in Israel in 1996, has treated more than 1,700 children from 28 countries, including Ethiopia, Rwanda, Vietnam and China. Nearly half the children treated were Arabs, including Palestinians, Jordanians and Iraqis.
