A 14-year-old Syrian boy and his "family" of six medical students at Baruch Padeh Medical Center near Tiberias. Photo: Maya Tzaban, Baruch Padeh Medical Center.

JNS.org – Six Israeli medical students have “adopted” a 14-year-old Syrian boy who was badly injured in his home country’s civil war and is currently hospitalized at Baruch Padeh Medical Center, near Tiberias.

The boy, who is undergoing extensive treatment in the hospital’s orthopedics department, lost a leg in an explosion while tending to his family’s herd of sheep. His other leg was also severely injured in the blast, and he is suffering from serious burns. He was brought to Israel for medical care, where he underwent a series of surgeries.

The Syrian teenager has no family or friends in Israel. The six Israeli students felt compelled to provide the boy with care beyond medicine—specifically, a sense of family. They visit him, play with him, and accompany him to appointments and surgeries. They put together a few thousand shekels of their own money to buy him headphones as well as a digital tablet loaded with games, radio shows, and Arabic-language movies.

“The way he fought for his life, the way he is dealing with the situation—going into surgeries and everything all by himself, no mom or dad,” is really touching, said one of the medical students, Eyal Shach, Israel Hayom reported. The boy said he is grateful for his new family of medical students and for the care he has received so far.