Rescue forces from the United States that worked with an Israeli delegation at the condominium collapse disaster site in Surfside, Florida this summer arrived in Israel for a week of shared learning, the Israel Defense Forces announced on Wednesday.

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As part of the visit, the American delegation observed a Home Front Command training site and held a workshop on how to process trauma cases and other challenging experiences.

In addition, the US task force visited an Iron Dome battery, "which further emphasized the theme of life-saving technologies and methods," said the Israeli military.

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"The strengthening of bonds between various search-and-rescue teams is a constructive and meaningful way of ensuring a better response to the global community in times of crisis," the IDF said.

The first Israeli delegation arrived at the disaster zone within 72 hours of the building's collapse in June, bringing with it 3D mapping technology.

Reprinted with permission from JNS.org.

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The Israel Defense Forces search and rescue team that arrived in South Florida shortly after the Champlain Towers South collapsed last month was heading home Sunday after an emotional sendoff in Surfside.

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During a brief ceremony on Saturday evening, Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava thanked the battalion for their "unrelenting dedication" and presented them with an honorary "key to the county."

Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Chief Alan Cominsky honored the team as honorary members of his department.

Members of the task forces that have been searching the site 24 hours a day since the June 24 collapse lined both sides of the street, shaking hands and bidding farewell to the Israeli team.

Video: Twitter

On Saturday, officials raised the confirmed death toll to 86, with 43 people still missing in the rubble of the 12-story building. While authorities have concluded that there was "no chance of life" in the remaining rubble, the pressure remains for search crews to find victims so families can lay their loved ones to rest.

The Israeli team joined other task forces from around the United States to assist the teams from Miami and Miami-Dade County, working in 12-hour shifts. They have searched through South Florida's intense summer heat, and in pouring rain, pausing only when lightning was spotted nearby. They also paused operations as officials made plans to implode the still-standing portion of the condo tower on July 4.

The Israeli team used blueprints of the building to create detailed 3D images of the disaster site to aid in the search. They also gathered information from families of the missing, many of who were Jewish, to build a room-by-room model laying out where people would have been sleeping during the pre-dawn collapse.

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IDF Col. Golan Vach, who heads a 15-person search and rescue team from Israel that has joined others in Florida, said on Tuesday that he feels the emotional weight of the scenes of devastation at the Surfside condominium collapse near Miami Beach.

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"Sometimes we cry. It's natural. We are working together. We talk every night... We share and it gives us strength," Vach, commander of the IDF's National Rescue Unit, said.

Vach says the Surfside collapse – which happened last Thursday and has killed at least 11 people with about 150 still missing as of Monday – is one of the most difficult and complicated he has ever seen because the floors of the 12-story condo have collapsed on top of one another, like a stack of pancakes.

Video: Reuters

The IDF rescuers include about 10 reservist officers from the Home Front Command, along with Foreign Ministry personnel, the IDF said in a statement.

When it comes to collapsed buildings, there is a cadre of international rescue workers willing to cross borders at a moment's notice.

A Mexican rescue team is also at the Surfside disaster site. The Israelis come trained by war, whereas the Mexicans have experience with natural disasters.

The cooperation reflects the international nature of the Miami area, which is home to both Jewish and Latin American diasporas.

Meanwhile, Rabbi Ariel Yeshurun, a graduate of the Ohr Torah Stone network's Straus-Amiel Institute, is providing help of a different kind. Yeshurun has set up a response center to help families directly affected by the collapse which has attracted people from all walks of life, of all religious faiths, backgrounds and ethnicities.

Since early Thursday, the rabbi and a team of volunteers have been providing a network of services, consolidating and centralizing collection of supplies and serving as a drop-off point and distribution headquarters. The supplies are then trucked to the Surfside reunification center, where the families of the unaccounted for are staying, as well as to local synagogues located near the site.

"The nature of the collapse has been particularly challenging for all involved. We are forced to face a reality where there is less and less hope of finding survivors and we need to be prepared and plan ahead for the likelihood of dozens of funerals," Yeshurun said sadly.

Yeshurun, outgoing president of the rabbinic association of the greater Miami Jewish Federation and a National Council member of AIPAC, serves as the rabbi of Skylake Synagogue in North Miami Beach, with a community of about 300 families.

"Everyone is helping, donating, extending themselves in ways I cannot believe. I've never seen such solidarity and unity," said Yeshurun.

"It brought me to tears to see everyone working together. They're all coming here – men, women, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Christians, African-Americans, Hispanics, and no one is asking about anyone else's religion or party affiliation. We're just seeing an incredible outpouring of compassion and a desire to help. These past few days we've shown the world that we can let all our differences give way to brotherhood and love and this is a tribute to the greatness of this Miami community!"

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Authorities in Florida on Thursday declared 99 people were still missing following the partial collapse of a 12-story oceanfront residential building in the community of Surfside, with at least one person dead.

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The town has a large population of Jews, and at least two are among the missing according to officials, but local members of the community fear the number is much higher.

Thirty-six survivors have been pulled out, including at least one child in reportedly good condition,and rescuers kept up a desperate search for more.

A wing of the 12-story building came down with a roar around 1:30 a.m. on Thursday morning. Officials did not know how many were in the tower when it fell.

"The building is literally pancaked," Surfside Mayor Charles Burkett said. "That is heartbreaking because it doesn't mean, to me, that we are going to be as successful as we wanted to be in finding people alive."

Video: Reuters

According to local Jewish community sources, at least 18 Jews were missing in the disaster. Synagogues in the area called on worshippers to offer their prayers for the safety of those still missing.

Rabbi Menachem Heruty, who leads a local Chabad chapter, told Israel Hayom that the city is home to "one of the largest Jewish communities in the Miami area." He added: There is a large synagogue nearby and 90% of the people in that area are Jewish, thousands. We pray for the speedy recovery of the injured."

He said that people could hear screams from residents who had been trapped by the debris. "It is my understanding that 10 were pulled out alive out of the rubble, but at least 18 Chabad members are missing, I think they are mostly adults."

Rabbi Aryeh Citron, the dean of Yeshivah College in Miami Beach, said: "To our sorrow, there are many people who have not been found. There are six who I know personally and another list of people that I don't know. We need a miracle. I live nearby, a few blocks away, but I didn't hear what happened until I woke up at around five in the morning, and then I saw the clamor on Whatsapp.  My son woke up in the middle of the night and heard a lot of helicopters and fire trucks. There are many Jews who live in the area, among them those who are missing. We are not being allowed to reach the disaster area."

A total of 22 South Americans were missing in the collapse – nine from Argentina, six from Paraguay, four from Venezuela and three from Uruguay, according to officials in those countries.

Foreign Minister Yair Lapid spoke earlier with Israel's consul general in Miami, Maor Elbaz, who updated him on the state of operations on the ground.

Some 20 members of the local Jewish community, some with dual US-Israeli citizenship, are reported to be among those missing after the collapse.

Lapid also spoke with the head of the Jewish community in Miami, Jacob Solomon, the Foreign Ministry says in a statement.

"Foreign Ministry staff in Miami and Israel are doing everything they can to help those on the ground, the wounded and the families. It is a difficult and complex event and it will take time to deal with it. We are at their disposal for any assistance they may need," Lapid said in the statement.

Gov. Ron DeSantis, who toured the scene, said television did not capture the scale of what happened.

Rescue crews are "doing everything they can to save lives. That is ongoing, and they're not going to rest," he said.

Teams of 10 to 12 rescuers at a time entered the rubble with dogs and other equipment, working until they grew tired from the heavy lifting, then making way for a new team, said Florida Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis, the state's fire marshal.

"They're not going to stop just because of nightfall," Patronis told Miami television station WPLG. "They just may have a different path they pursue."

Authorities did not say what may have caused the collapse. On video footage captured from nearby, the center of the building appeared to fall first, with a section nearest the ocean teetering and coming down seconds later as a huge dust cloud swallowed the neighborhood.

Work was being done on the building's roof, but Burkett said he did not see how that could have been the cause.

US President Joe Biden approved an emergency declaration in the state of Florida and ordered federal assistance to supplement state and local response efforts.

"The president's action authorizes the Department of Homeland Security, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), to coordinate all disaster relief efforts," the White House said on Friday.

Hotels opened to some displaced residents, the mayor said, and deliveries of food, medicine and more were being hastily arranged.

Fortuna Smukler posted about the disaster on Facebook, hoping that someone would know the whereabouts of Myriam Caspi Notkin and Arnie Notkin, an elderly couple who lived on the third floor.

Arnie Notkin spent years teaching physical education at a local elementary school, said Smukler, a North Miami Beach commissioner who is friends with Myriam Notkin's daughters.

"He was such a well-liked P.E. teacher from people's past," she said. "Everyone's been posting, 'Oh my god, he was my coach.'"

"It would be a miracle if they're found alive," she added.

Nicholas Fernandez spent hours after the collapse trying to call two friends who were staying in the building with their young daughter. The family had come to the United States to avoid the COVID-19 outbreak in their home country of Argentina, said Fernandez, of Miami.

"The hope is that, perhaps, someone hears the call. I know there are dogs inside," he said. "I know it may sound ridiculous what I'm saying but there's always hope until we hear different."

Barry Cohen, 63, said he and his wife were asleep in the building when he first heard what he thought was a crack of thunder. The couple went onto their balcony, then opened the door to the building's hallway to find "a pile of rubble and dust and smoke billowing around."

"I couldn't walk out past my doorway," said Cohen, the former vice mayor of Surfside.

Surfside City Commissioner Eliana Salzhauer told WPLG that the building's county-mandated 40-year recertification process was ongoing. Salzhauer said the process was believed to be proceeding without difficulty. A building inspector was on-site Wednesday.

"I want to know why this happened," Salzhauer said. "That's really the only question. ... And can it happen again? Are any other of our buildings in town in jeopardy?"

The seaside condo development was built in 1981.

The area has a mix of new and old apartments, houses, condominiums and hotels, with restaurants and stores serving an international combination of residents and tourists. The main oceanside drag is lined with glass-sided, luxury condominium buildings, but more modest houses are on the inland side. Among the neighborhood's residents are snowbirds, Russian immigrants and Orthodox Jewish families.

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