Since the attack on October 7, the 74-year-old man has continued his mission within the “Road to Recovery” association to support Palestinian children suffering from cancer in Israeli hospitals.
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Before October 7, Izhar Yaari helped children from Gaza with cancer cross the border to receive treatment in Israeli hospitals. On the day of the massacre, the abuses stopped at the gates of his kibbutz of Gvulot, about ten kilometers from the enclave. He lost many loved ones. But despite the drama and trauma, at 74 years old he continues to help sick Palestinians, as a volunteer for the “Road to Recovery” association. In Gaza, this is now impossible, so he turned to the occupied West Bank.
That morning at the Tarqoumiyah checkpoint, 40 kilometers south of Jerusalem, Izhar found a teenager and a little boy in a parking lot on the Israeli side, just after the checkpoint. “They are two children. The first is 15 years old and the other is 5 years old.”
Their names are Atya and Mohammed, they are Palestinian. Both suffering from cancer, they are accompanied by their parents. An hour’s drive later, Izhar drops off the sick in front of Sheba Hospital in Tel Aviv. His mission ends there.
“We are on the side of good”
“The former hostage Odette Lifshitz, who everyone has heard of in Israel, was an organizer in my youth movement, says Izhar. She’s also a friend I worked with. I also worked with his son. I know the whole family there. Amiram Cooper, the elderly people from Kibbutz Nir Hoz, I know them from having done projects with them. I also had good friends among the murdered victims. Especially in Kibbutz Beeri. But if I stop helping the Palestinians, then it will be as if evil has won. And we are on the side of good.”
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Atya, the teenager, has been in remission for several months. But his father Zyade always accompanies him to the hospital for checks. They then return together to Hebron, the large city in the south of the West Bank, partly occupied by Israeli settlers. : “The Israelis here are different from the ones over there in the settlements. If this child only sees settlers, he will end up hating Israelis. But when he comes here and sees good people, like this gentleman in the car, he will say to himself that there are good people in Israel.” Atya agrees and specifies that at the hospital, the Israelis are also there to help the Palestinians, and above all, that they respect them.
In Israel, the Road to Recovery association takes Palestinian children to the hospital: report by Thibault Lefèvre