Doctors in Israel’s reserve army have written to the head of the IDF asking to be sent into Syria to treat people wounded in the civil war.

The medics said that despite the risks, they refused to be passive witnesses to the “indiscriminate slaughter” taking place in the neighbouring country.

“We know there are security considerations, and we know there are diplomatic considerations. But there is a principle, there is a truth, and there is morality: we must demand from ourselves to be there for them,” wrote the Paratroopers’ Brigade doctors to IDF Chief of Staff Lieutenant Gadi Eisenkot.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced on Tuesday that he had asked the Foreign Ministry to “seek ways to expand our medical assistance to the civilian casualties of the Syrian tragedy, specifically in Aleppo”.

The harrowing scenes in Aleppo appear to have moved Israeli public opinion. On Sunday in Tel Aviv, 1,500 Israelis formed a human chain between the US and Russian embassies and demanded international action.

Shas leader Aryeh Deri asked Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to call for an urgent meeting of the UN Security Council, saying: “Six million Jews were murdered and the world was silent. As Jews we cannot be silent.”