WhatsApp founder donates $200 million to Jerusalem's Shaare Zedek medical center

This is the largest philanthropic donation in the history of Israel's healthcare system will make it possible to triple the size of the hospital

i24NEWS
i24NEWS
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Medical staff at Shaare Zedek Medical Center and soldiers transfer patients back to regular wards after the underground department established during the war was closed, in Jerusalem, April 10, 2026
Medical staff at Shaare Zedek Medical Center and soldiers transfer patients back to regular wards after the underground department established during the war was closed, in Jerusalem, April 10, 2026Dor Pazuelo/Flash90

Jerusalem’s Shaare Zedek Medical Center announced it has received a historic $200 million donation from Jan Koum, the Jewish-Ukrainian founder of WhatsApp, marking the largest philanthropic contribution ever made to a medical institution in Israel.

The donation, transferred through Koum’s family foundation, will fund the construction of a new inpatient tower and housing facilities for medical staff. The expansion is expected to dramatically increase the hospital’s capacity, tripling its current size of around 1,000 beds.

Koum, 50, immigrated to the United States from Ukraine as a teenager and became one of the world’s leading Jewish philanthropists following the 2014 sale of WhatsApp to Meta. 

The contribution surpasses the previous Israeli healthcare donation record set in 2025, when Anat and Shmuel Harlap donated $180 million to Beilinson Hospital.

The new project is already advancing through Jerusalem’s planning authorities and is part of a broader trend of Israeli hospitals increasingly relying on large-scale private philanthropy to fund national healthcare infrastructure. 

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