Israeli medical center for Gazans opens as ceasefire begins

The complicated reality of Israel's never-ending state of war is that it tears down with one hand and builds up with the other. The hope being that, at the end of the day, positive efforts will outweigh negative ones.

And so, in the wake of a ceasefire that went into effect at 2am on Sunday morning, Israel's Magen David Adom (MDA), in cooperation with the Department of Health, opened a medical center at the Erez Crossing between Gaza and Israel to serve Gaza Strip citizens.

That same day, an opening ceremony for the center was held on the Israeli side of the Erez Crossing in the presence of Minister of Social Services Yitzchak Herzog, Minister of Health Yaacov Ben Izri, and Eli Bin CEO of Magen David Adom.

At the opening, Bin told reporters: "The logistics in establishing a facility like this is very complicated especially with such short notice." In fact, the government decision to open the center came only on Thursday, after which MDA was selected to implement and operate the project.

"We started building within 24 hours," says Dr. Zvi Feigenberg, in charge of MDA's medical section, sounding remarkably calm in the face of the impossible deadline. "We opened on Sunday and hope that by Monday we'll be operating at full capacity."