Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh rushing towards trucks carrying aid. Photo: Greg Constantine, courtesy of USHMM.

JNS.org – Israel reportedly offered humanitarian aid to Bangladesh to help the southeast Asian country cope with the hundreds of thousands of Muslim Rohingya refugees that have been expelled from Myanmar.

According to a report in Yedioth Ahronoth, Israel clandestinely reached out to Bangladesh, a Muslim-majority country that has no formal diplomatic ties with the Jewish state, to offer a “significant” humanitarian aid package for Rohingya refugees.

“Bangladesh expressed gratitude to Israel for the offer, but informed it that it cannot accept aid due to the sensitivity involved and the political ramifications that could ensue,” the report said.

The Israeli Foreign Ministry is also reportedly exploring other routes to deliver humanitarian assistance to the Rohingya refugees, who have purportedly faced ethnic cleansing in Myanmar, a Buddhist-majority country.

Myanmar’s army has reportedly driven up to 870,000 Rohingya from the country into neighboring Bangladesh during the last several months. The aid agency Medecins Sans Frontieres recently said that 6,700 Rohingya have been killed since late August.