Troops won't have to dry their underwear on tank carriers these days, thanks to a New York rabbi who raised more than $100,000 in two days to buy care packages for soldiers involved in Israel's offensive against Gaza militants.

Samuel Klibanoff, the rabbi of Jewish Centre of Atlantic Beach in Long Island, NY, collected the money from congregants and Jews in other communities in New York and New Jersey. He donated the cash to the Israel-based Yad Eliezer food relief organisation, which organised 5,000 packages for the troops.

Klibanoff came from the US to Israel this week to personally deliver the packages together with Yad Eliezer volunteers. Yesterday, they brought a truck filled with care packages to a base in southern Israel.

Right off the front line

"The most important thing to me is when you see a soldier's face, right off the front line, and they say 'you came from America to give this to me'," said Klibanoff, who raised some $250,000 for Israeli troops during their 2006 war against Lebanese Hezbollah guerrillas. "I'm very privileged that I was in a position to be part of this."