IDF finds Syrian marrow donor for sick Arab girl

At the party, the girl, who is not being named for fears about her safety, wore a white dress and a crown, and danced with Rambam's Jewish and Arab staff, who gave her gifts including a backpack for the start of school.

The girl's mother, who with her throughout her stay, told staff: "I would lie if I said that I expected the kind of humanity I discovered here. I am grateful for your care and sensitivity; may God protect you. And we will always remember what you did for us."

The Israeli military will now settle the bill for her treatment.

Ayelet Ben Barak, a doctor who took a central role in caring for her, said that the IDF had faced the biggest challenge in sourcing a donor. "They organised it - I don't know how but after two-and-a-half months it arrived.

"We did not know when it would be with us. One night, her mother, a religious Muslim, was praying for it to arrive and the girl said she should pray, too. It arrived the next day."

It turned out that two of her siblings matched her bone marrow type, and doctors chose her 18-year-old brother, who was taken at the border for a four-week stay at Rambam.