Israel has offered to treat displaced young Ukrainian cancer patients after the cancer ward in Kyiv’s largest children’s hospital was partially struck by a Russian cruise missile on Monday.

The strike on Okhmatdyt children’s hospital, in central Kyiv, resulted in much of the building’s roof collapsing and the deaths of two adults, at least one of whom was a doctor in the hospital, with 16 injured.

Over 600 patients and at least as many staff were in or around the hospital at the moment of the strike, according to the Kyiv Independent newspaper.

Standing outside the hospital as rescue efforts were underway, Ukraine’s Health Minister Viktor Liashko said: “We don’t know the number of people trapped there.”

Child cancer patients and their parents were evacuated soon after the attack, which occurred around 1:30pm.

Israel’s Sheba Medical Center in Ramat Gan has offered to take in and treat the evacuated patients, an offer reportedly conveyed via Israel’s Ambassador to Ukraine, Michael Brodsky, according to media outlet Ynet.

Brodsky told Ynet that the Jewish State has “long-standing ties” with the Okhmatdyt Hospital. The Israeli embassy delivering medical equipment to the hospital at the beginning of the Russian-Ukraine war, and Ukrainian doctors from the hospital visiting and learning in Israel are among the ways in which the two entities have collaborated.

Early in 2022, several Ukrainian children with oncological diseases were flown to Israel for treatment.

The Sheba Medical Centre, located near Tel Aviv and Ben Gurion Airport, treats some 50,000 cancer patients a year and are the “absolute leader” in cancer treatment in Israel, the centre says.

Brodsky said Israel has a reputation as a country “with a big heart, and we are doing everything to maintain that reputation,”

Israel has dispatched humanitarian and rescue teams to a number of countries during times of crisis. Teams were sent to both Honduras in Turkey in 2020 following devastating earthquakes in each country, for example. Israel has also provided aid to war-torn Ukraine on a number of occasions since Russia’s invasion in early 2022.
Sheba Medical Centre personnel have established and manned an Israeli field hospital in western Ukraine, shipping food, medicine, generators and more to the war-torn country.

The strike on Okhmatdyt children’s hospital was one of several deadly bombardments launched during a massive day time barrage at multiple Ukrainian cities. In total, at least 47 people were killed and an estimated 170 injured.

The shelling comes as NATO leaders gathered in Washington DC for a summit this week. Jens Stoltenberg, secretary general of NATO, decried Russia’s strikes on civilian targets as “horrendous”.

President Joe Biden tweeted on Monday: “Russia’s missile strikes that today killed dozens of Ukrainian civilians and caused damage and casualties at Kyiv’s largest children’s hospital are a horrific reminder of Russia’s brutality.”