As the rescue efforts intensify following Saturday's massive earthquake in Nepal, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Tuesday spoke with Col. Yoram Laredo, head of the Israeli rescue mission who is at the site where the IDF is setting up a field hospital.
"The most important task at this moment is to rescue the Israelis who are on Mount Everest and to complete the evacuation of the frozen lakes area," said Netanyahu. "I have instructed that the possibility of dropping them equipment, food, clothing and means to keep warm, by plane or helicopter, be considered. Send my regards to everyone, good luck and keep up the good work."
In response, the colonel said "we landed at dawn here in Kathmandu and immediately unpacked the equipment. As of now we are continuing to get organized, build the field hospital, and see to our other efforts, including the special effort to locate Israelis."
"Every Israeli who comes to us will have his needs taken care of. I would like to emphasize that we are highly motivated and ready for our task here; we hope to save lives and achieve results," concluded Laredo.
Rescuing Israelis from a monastery
Also on Tuesday members of Israel's Joint Disaster Response Team rescued ten Israelis stranded at the Kopan Monastery just outside of the hard-hit capital of Kathmandu.
The Israeli team was compromised of the volunteer rescue organizations ZAKA, United Hatzolah and F.I.R.S.T, and completed its rescue mission at the monastery just a day after touching down in Nepal.
In order to reach the monastery, the team used jeeps from the Kathmandu Chabad House. The travelers were in good health but traumatized by their ordeal, and on the journey back to the Chabad House from where they will fly back to Israel, they contacted their worried families.
"Thank you for coming to rescue us!," said one of the rescued Israelis in a video that can be viewed below. "We are fine...at the moment we have everything we need. We just want to know how we will get home, on which flight and when. Thank you for coming."
ZAKA's rescue efforts were not limited to stranded Israeli tourists however.
The team came across a distraught daughter whose father had been trapped in a collapsed building. Video shows how the team sought to calm the daughter and learn where her father was.
After rescuing the trapped father and disentangling him from the rubble, the crew spoke to Nepalese military, identifying themselves as an Israeli rescue crew and offering their services to help in whatever efforts were needed.
The Joint Disaster Response Team's efforts are being coordinated with the Israel Embassy in Kathmandu, as well as with the Nepalese army.
"The scale of the disaster here is huge, entire streets have collapsed and there are many injured," said ZAKA International Rescue Unit head Mati Goldstein. "Our first mission is to rescue those Israelis who have yet to make contact with their families. We are concentrating on this, while at the same time we aim to assist in those outlying villages where no rescue team has reached."
"We have connected with the local army, which gives us the possibility to reach every place and operate there. Our joint response team of ZAKA, United Hatzolah and F.I.R.S.T. is able to contribute significantly to the Nepalese army's search and rescue mission, thanks to our professional expertise and experience gained in other mass casualty natural disasters in the region," he added.