In those days, an additional system of blood services was required to address a need unlike anything previously known.
Magen David Adom’s Blood Services also operate the National Human Milk Bank, managed by Dr. Sharon Bransburg Tsabari. Ordinarily, the bank is intended to provide breast milk to premature babies in hospitals.
On October 7th, different requests began to arrive.
“We received heartbreaking requests from hospitals,” recalled Prof. Shinar. “Babies whose mothers were killed or abducted, and there was no one to nurse them.”
One of the requests concerned a pregnant woman from one of the Gaza envelope kibbutzim, who went into labor during the attack. A Magen David Adom paramedic reached her home under fire, and she was evacuated to the hospital where she gave birth in the delivery room. Due to the trauma she experienced, she struggled to produce milk.
Magen David Adom’s Human Milk Bank provided milk for the baby for months.
Subsequently, requests also came from female soldiers who were called to participate in the war effort and needed milk for their babies. One of them was a combat navigator.
“They are fighting for the defense of Israel, and the people of Israel are looking after their children,” said Shinar. “Mothers donate breast milk, and Magen David Adom tests and supplies it.”
