In the immediate and direct line of fire of Gaza terrorists lies Sderot, one of Israel’s most rocket-battered cities.

Sderot’s close proximity to the Gaza Strip and relatively large population has made it a prime target of Hamas. The city has endured the constant threat of rocket attacks, with many of the residents suffering from physical injury and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

Over 5,000 missiles have landed in Sderot alone in the past 15 years and an entire generation of children have grown up thinking that constant rocket attacks are a normal way of life.

Rabbi Abraham Elimelech Firer, founder and chairman of Ezra Le’Marpeh, has found an immediate and future need to establish a medical center in Sderot to treat ailing residents and victims of terror across Israel’s southern region.

Teaming up with Build Up Israel to help raise funds and awareness for the initiative, the Sderot Medical and Rehabilitation Center “is a building that will save lives,” said Gabi Sackett, Director of Build Up Israel to Breaking Israel News. “ It’s a medical rehabilitation center that will also function as a first aid and trauma center.”

Alongside Ezra Le’Marpeh, Build Up Israel is helping to literally build the medical center one brick at a time by allowing sponsors around the world to donate bricks towards the sites construction. The project has been designed to the highest architectural standards, taking into account special security demands. The building will be completely rocket proof so that even during an attack, treatment for the patients will continue uninterrupted.

Using the same technology utilized to build outdoor bomb shelters, the new medical center will be able to withstand direct rocket hits without causing a pause to treatment sessions taking place inside, thus making it a true safe-zone.

The Sderot Medical and Rehabilitation Center will be the first medical center in the area, allowing patients to be treated locally for minor injuries, shock and first aid care. This will alleviate the need for patients with minor medical issues to travel to either Barzilai Medical Center in Ashkelon or Soroka hospital in Be’er Sheva during in attack. The center will have its own electricity and plumbing so that it will be able to continue to functioning no matter what.

According to Sackett, the medical center “serves an incredibly important purpose as many of the children and adults are suffering from PTSD due the continued rocket fire on the city from Gaza.” Sackett added that the staff at the center will be “world class professional staff, providing the best care possible to the residents”.

Ezra L’Marpeh has already raised 60 percent of the cost of the building, but another 40 percent is still needed to help finance the project. The total cost is approximately NIS 37.3 million (about $10 million), with construction already beginning.

“Together we can provide the residents of Sderot and surrounding Negev communities with state-of-the art professional medical care, on-call free ambulance services and peace of mind, body and soul,” said Sackett.