Israel expands aid to Ukraine: educational and support centers to be established in children’s hospitals

Israeli organizations will open new educational spaces in children’s hospitals in Chernivtsi and Bila Tserkva. The project will allow children to continue their studies, engage in creativity, and receive emotional support even during prolonged treatment and war.

Israel is expanding practical assistance to Ukraine, focusing not only on urgent humanitarian supplies but also on long-term support for children in hospitals.

The expansion of the project was announced by the Israeli embassy in Ukraine on July 2, 2026. The publication of the diplomatic mission stated that after the opening of the first educational center in Odesa, the Israeli model will be implemented in children’s hospitals in Chernivtsi and Bila Tserkva. On July 10, 2026, the information was officially disseminated by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Israel, after which Israeli media wrote about the project. The portal PTnow published material about the initiative in the section dedicated to education, emphasizing the participation of the SASA Setton organization, Center for Jewish Impact, the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Israeli embassy in Ukraine.

The organization SASA Setton, Center for Jewish Impact, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Israel, and the Israeli embassy in Ukraine are launching new educational centers at children’s medical institutions in Chernivtsi and Bila Tserkva.

These will not be ordinary playrooms or a one-time transfer of computers to hospitals. It is about a full-fledged Israeli model of education for hospitalized children, which combines learning, modern technology, creativity, communication, and psychological support.

Children will be able to continue their studies, use the library, engage in robotics, work with computers, draw, play, and maintain a connection with normal life despite illness, injuries, or prolonged treatment.

The project also provides for the training of Ukrainian specialists and ongoing professional support. Thus, Israel transfers not only equipment to Ukraine but also accumulated experience in organizing the educational process directly within hospitals.

A hospital should not stop childhood

For a child, prolonged hospitalization means much more than medical procedures.

They find themselves cut off from school, friends, the usual daily routine, and normal communication. Even after successful treatment, it may be difficult for a child to return to classes, restore social connections, and feel part of normal life again.

In the conditions of a full-scale Russian war, this problem becomes even more severe. Many Ukrainian children simultaneously experience the consequences of shelling, loss of home, forced relocation, separation from loved ones, and prolonged treatment.

The Israeli model is based on the principle that hospitalization should not become an obstacle to a child’s education and development.

In the new centers in Chernivtsi and Bila Tserkva, it is planned to equip classrooms, libraries, areas for technological activities and robotics, spaces for games, drawing, and other types of creativity.

Programs will be adapted to the age, medical condition, and emotional needs of each child. One patient may be able to engage more fully, another may require a short individual session directly in the ward, and for a third, the main result will be the opportunity to distract from procedures and anxiety for a while.

That is why the educational space in a hospital cannot be assessed only as an additional school class. It returns to the child a sense of moving forward and shows that life has not stopped because of a diagnosis, injury, or war.

According to the Israeli ambassador to Ukraine Michael Brodsky, Israel attaches great importance not only to helping overcome the immediate consequences of the war but also to strengthening the resilience of the younger generation.

The diplomat emphasized that the creation of educational centers for hospitalized children allows turning Israel’s accumulated knowledge into real help directly on the ground.

Ashkelon’s experience will be transferred to Chernivtsi

A special role in the project will be played by the medical center “Barzilai” in Ashkelon.

The educational center operating at the Israeli hospital will provide professional support to the future center in Chernivtsi. Training of personnel, exchange of methodologies, and transfer of experience in working with children who are undergoing long-term treatment are envisaged.

The choice of “Barzilai” is of particular significance.

The hospital is located in southern Israel and has been operating for many years under conditions of rocket threats, emergencies, and periods of mass casualties. Israeli specialists understand well that a child during treatment requires not only medical assistance but also a safe environment that maintains a sense of stability.

Such experience is especially relevant for Ukraine, where hospitals continue to operate under the threat of Russian strikes, power outages, and air raids.

The partnership between Ashkelon and Chernivtsi should become long-term. Ukrainian specialists will receive not a ready-made template that cannot be changed, but a model adapted to the conditions of a specific hospital and the needs of its patients.

The chairman of the Center for Jewish Impact and SASA Setton Robert Singer stated that the initiative reflects a commitment to partnership with the Ukrainian people.

According to him, Israel is transferring to the children of Ukraine not only an educational environment but also hope, resilience, and a sense of childhood during an extremely difficult period.

For Robert Singer himself, the project in Chernivtsi also has a personal dimension. He was born in this city in 1956 and later repatriated to Israel. Singer held leadership positions in the World Jewish Congress and the international educational network World ORT.

Chernivtsi, meanwhile, holds a special place in the history of the Jewish people. Before the Holocaust, the city was one of the most important centers of Jewish cultural, social, and political life in Bukovina.

The creation of an Israeli-Ukrainian project for children here connects modern humanitarian aid with the deep historical ties of the two countries.

NANews — News of Israel | Nikk.Agency views this initiative as an example of cooperation that is not limited to statements of solidarity. Israeli organizations are creating a working infrastructure, training specialists, and forming connections between medical institutions in Israel and Ukraine.

From Odesa to a network of centers across Ukraine

Chernivtsi and Bila Tserkva will not be the first Ukrainian cities where the SASA Setton model is applied.

The first such educational center was opened in 2023 at the Odesa Regional Children’s Clinical Hospital. The medical institution receives hundreds of children daily, and the space created by the Israeli organization received computers, tablets, games, and educational programs in Ukrainian.

The launch of the project took place under difficult conditions.

The organizers faced Russian shelling of Odesa, air raids, and power outages, but did not abandon the creation of the center. The Odesa experience showed that an educational space can work even in a hospital operating under conditions of a major war.

Now the project is expanding beyond one city.

After the opening of centers in Chernivtsi and Bila Tserkva, the organizers are considering the possibility of further expanding the program in other regions of Ukraine.

This allows us to speak not about a separate charitable action, but about the gradual formation of a network of hospital educational spaces.

For Ukraine, this approach is especially important. According to UNICEF, since February 24, 2022, more than 3,200 children have been killed or injured as a result of the war. In 2025 alone, the number of confirmed child casualties increased by about 10% compared to the previous year.

The Ukrainian state portal “Children of War” as of July 12, 2026 reports 717 killed and 2,661 injured children. At the same time, the authorities emphasize that it is impossible to establish exact figures due to ongoing hostilities and the temporary occupation of part of Ukrainian territory.

The war destroys not only the health of children but also the entire environment necessary for their development.

Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, more than 1,700 schools and other educational institutions have been damaged or destroyed. Almost a million Ukrainian children are forced to study only remotely, and many students have not had full communication with teachers and peers for years.

In 2025, almost 200 medical institutions in Ukraine were also damaged or destroyed. Hospitals continue to operate during shelling, energy crises, and the constant threat of new attacks.

Against this background, educational centers within hospitals solve several tasks at once.

They allow a child not to fall out of the educational process, reduce isolation, help maintain social skills, and create a space where there is room not only for pain, anxiety, and waiting for the next procedure.

Not a symbolic gesture, but long-term help

Since the beginning of the full-scale war, Israeli support for Ukraine has developed mainly in three directions: humanitarian aid, medical and rehabilitation support, as well as civil and educational programs.

The new centers in Chernivtsi and Bila Tserkva combine all these directions.

They are created in medical institutions, work with the consequences of the war, support the psychological state of children, and at the same time help preserve education.

Such a project does not produce an immediate political effect and does not look as noticeable as a large supply of humanitarian equipment. However, it is precisely such initiatives that form long-term relationships between countries.

Equipment can be transferred once. A true partnership begins when knowledge is transferred along with it, infrastructure is created, people are trained, and a system capable of working for years is formed.

Israel has accumulated significant experience in supporting children who are undergoing treatment in hospitals, living under rocket threats, or experiencing the consequences of large-scale crises.

Now this experience becomes part of the assistance to Ukraine.

For children in Chernivtsi and Bila Tserkva, the new centers may mean the opportunity to open a textbook between procedures, assemble a robot, talk to a teacher, draw a picture, or simply spend a few hours not as a patient, but as a child.

During the war, even such a return to normal life becomes a form of resistance to destruction.