In view of the unprecedented floods in Serbia and Bosnia, Minister of Foreign Affairs Avigdor Lieberman instructed his ministry to speed humanitarian aid to the affected citizens of both countries.

At the end of last week, Israel’s Ambassador to Belgrade Yossi Levy and his team dispatched emergency aid, which included medicine and basic equipment to the flood victims, as well as lighting equipment for the rescue teams who are busy evacuating residents trapped in flooded areas. The embassy also airlifted essential medicine to the hospital in the city of Bijeljina in the Republika Srpska in Bosnia, a region where roads were cut off due to heavy rainfall.

The President of the Republic and the Minister of Health were on hand personally to receive the Israeli medical aid from the helicopter ramp.

In light of weather forecasts predicting that the level of the Danube and Sava rivers will reach record levels in the coming days, the MFA Emergency and Crisis Management Center convened representatives of the various IDF branches and Israeli aid agencies to examine possibilities of sending additional emergency equipment to Belgrade, with the aim of assisting in the rescue and evacuation of civilians caught in the flood zones.

In addition, the Foreign Ministry is ready to send sanitary assistance to the populated regions of Serbia where the water level is expected to decline. Several cities and towns in Serbia are currently submerged under up to two meters of water and mud.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)