In addition to ZAKA’s work in honoring the dead, the volunteer organization has grown organically over the years to provide specialist search and rescue units which can be called upon, 24/7,  throughout the country, on land and at sea.

These search and rescue capabilities have greatly enhanced the effectiveness of the organization, increased its cooperation with the national emergency and rescue services and – most importantly – helped save countless lives by reacting in a speedy and professional manner, with the relevant equipment.

Thanks to the special structure and deployment of the units, hundreds of ZAKA volunteers for missing person searches can be called up and deployed in a short space of time and in high concentration of numbers – trained volunteers who carry all the necessary equipment for a missing person search.

This national volunteer network, which deals with search and rescue of missing persons, includes specialist units such as the Divers Unit, the Sapir Jet-Ski Unit, the Jeep Unit and the K9 Unit.

In addition, the Climbing and Rappelling Unit includes extremely fit volunteers with medical knowledge who have undergone specialist training in rappelling in order to offer an immediate rescue response in natural and urban disasters.

The ZAKA Home Front Command Unit, another specialist Search and Rescue unit, works in cooperation with the IDF Home Front Command in mass casualty disasters and home front incidents that require a large number of professional rescuers.

The unit, which was formed as a result of lessons learned from the Second Lebanon War, includes hundreds of certified ZAKA rescuers who have undergone specialist training from the IDF Home Front Command.

The unit undergoes regular annual training, together with the IDF Home Front Command, in order to ensure a very high professional level of training and abilities.
The unit has worked shoulder to shoulder alongside the IDF in mass casualty incidents and building collapses in Israel and overseas, in wartime and during times of routine.