Hospitals across Israel are reaching breaking points after more than six months of treating civilians, former hostages, and wounded soldiers from the fighting in Gaza. Its biggest hospital, the Sheba Medical Center at Tel Hashomer Hospital, near Tel Aviv has never been busier.
It has treated 70% of Israel Defense Forces (IDF) soldiers wounded since October 7 when Hamas terrorists attacked the Jewish state. Hospital spokesman Steve Walz told CBN News October 8 was the busiest day of all, treating the victims of the attacks. Since then Sheba Medical Center staff feel like they’ve almost always been on a war footing, he added.
The hospital which has consistently ranked in the top ten of Newsweek’s annual list of the world’s best hospitals in recent years has treated more than 1,000 soldiers and civilians for trauma, mental stress, and bullet and shrapnel wounds. “We had a special team dedicated just to dealing with the hostages. They get a doctor, a psychologist, and a social worker to deal with each hostage. To date, we’ve dealt with 32 hostages and one dog,” Mr. Walz elucidated.
“We’ve been learning on the run, and all the doctors who’ve been dealing with the hostages and even the wounded soldiers, have more or less, had to throw away the medical book. We’re rewriting it because from the soldier’s point of view, the doctors are seeing wounds, severe wounds, that we’ve never seen before. That’s because every few years, unfortunately, the ammunition gets upgraded so it’s more damaging to the body,” he explained.
The war has also affected the hospital spokesman personally. Mr Walz’s son-in-law Eliyah was wounded by a mortar and sniper when he tried to check his tank and needed multiple surgeries and months in the hospital.
“He’s a hero,” Mr. Walz declared. “He got a tremendous amount of TLC here, like every soldier does. It was traumatic for the entire family. But he made it out of a coma faster than anybody thought possible, and rehabilitated.”
A reservist named Roey told CBN News the staff “are really, really amazing — everything that you need, they give it to you. And they do their best, so that you can go back to be like you were before the war, physically and mentally.”
Reserve combat soldier Aaron recounted going house to house on foot, looking for tunnel entrances in Gaza. “From the second we got there, we were shot at constantly. So, AK 47s, snipers, RPGs, anti-tank missiles, mortar shells. You get used to this cacophony of explosions around you. but, you know, of course, that’s tough.”
Aaron saved his commander from a sniper but got shot in his leg, side and back. He rejoiced at his survival and hospital treatment for four months so far. “It’s miraculous. The fact that I get to keep my leg, that I’ll make a full recovery. All of this is not taken for granted.”
He observed “the unique way that people come together here. You feel that the Arab Israelis and Jewish Israelis are united here in Sheba for one purpose, which is just to provide immaculate, incredible care.”
Steve Walz revealed to CBN News that: “25% of our staff are Israeli Arabs — Jews, and Arabs working side by side to save the lives of civilians and soldiers alike. There’s no differentiation, something that we do during the year also with Palestinians that we treat from Gaza in the West Bank”
He says to be successful Sheba remains a politics-free zone. “You walk in the door here. We check our politics in at the door. We’re a hospital with a hope, without boundaries. The war is outside of our doors and inside is the battle to save lives.”
Photo: Facebook – The Sheba Medical Center At Tel Hashomer Hospital
