Last update - 00:00 12/01/2008
Two homeless men hospitalized with hypothermia in Tel Aviv
By Yigal Hai and Jack Khoury, Haaretz Correspondents
Two homeless men were hospitalized on Saturday evening in Tel Aviv after they were found on the city's streets suffering from hypothermia.
One of the men was found in the center of the city and the other was found in Jaffa. Both were taken to Ichilov Hospital by rescue teams of the Magen David Adom and have been listed in light condition.
Due to the recent wave of cold that has taken over the country, the Tel Aviv municipality on Monday began referring all of the city's homeless to two shelters run in conjunction with private organizations.
Director of the city's Social Services Administration, Ze'ev Friedman, said that the city had prepared in advance for the cold spell by increasing capacity in two of its shelters in order to be able to accomodate the local homeless population.
"We went around the city and offered all homeless the chance to come to the shelters, where we have increased capacity, but not everyone agreed to come," said Friedman.
"In cases like this, the default is to supply those same homeless with blankets, clothes and warm drinks, and that's what we've been doing," Friedman added. "Our teams will continue to scour the streets and offer homeless the chance to move to the shelters."
Friedman said the municipality has also organized a project distributing heating devices to some 3,600 senior citizens around the city.
Also this weekend, a 10-year-old boy from Moshav Taoz near Jerusalem was hospitalized with light hypothermia after he turned blue while playing on the cold floor of his home.