**Abstract**

Between February 2013 and December 2018, many thousands of victims of the Syrian civil war crossed the closed border between the two warring states and received, at no cost, high-level and extensive medical and humanitarian care in Israel. Overall mortality rates were very low, and more than 40 Syrian babies were born in Israel. All the patients returned to Syria after their treatment which extended in some cases into many months. Severe medical disease, surgical conditions and the major traumas of war injuries.were treated in in-patient and ambulatory settings. The story of this unique campaign contains many themes: military, legal, medical, social, humanitarian, ethical, media, personal and political. There have been very few, if any, precedents for a campaign of this nature involving two bitter enemies, over whose mutual border real and potential threats are constantly being played out.

**Keywords:** Israel, humanitarian medical treatment, Syrian civil war, Ziv Medical Centre
