9000 Youth from Israel’s South Enjoy a Day of Respite Today

With the ceasefire in place, The Jewish Agency for Israel organized a massive operation today for over 9,000 children and teenagers who enjoyed a day of rest and respite at a range of venues in the center of the country. This brings to 30,000 the number of children taken for rest and respite out of rocket range this week by The Jewish Agency.

The costs for the Jewish Agency’s respite activities have been covered by Jewish Federations of North America, UJA Federation of Greater Toronto, Federation CJA and the Jewish Federations of Canada-UIA. In total, the Federations have pledged some $5 million towards urgent needs associated with the current conflict. These respite activities have been organized in full coordination with the National Emergency Authority and the local authorities.

The children visited several entertainment venues across the center and North including the Biblical Zoo (where they were joined by Natan Sharansky), the KifTzuba children’s amusement park and the Ramat Gan Safari amongst many others.

Update: an earlier version of this article listed the number of children participating in today’s program at 7500.