SHEBA MEDICAL CENTER, TEL HASHOMER HOSPITAL, Israel – Hospitals in Israel are reaching breaking points after more than six months of treating civilians, former hostages, and wounded soldiers from the fighting in Gaza.
One positive result of the stress and strain is how Israeli Jews and Arabs are working side by side to save lives.
Workers inside Sheba Medical Center feel they’re almost always on a near-war footing.
Steve Walz, the hospital’s spokesman explained, “So, on October 7th, we got word that something terrible was happening down around Gaza, and we started receiving the flow of patients, you know, in the afternoon, in the evening into October 8th, which was the busiest day.”
More than a thousand soldiers and civilians have been treated here, and Walz told CBN News the cases include trauma, mental stress, and bullet and shrapnel wounds. Then came those who had been held hostage.
“We had a special team dedicated just to dealing with the hostages – where they get a doctor, a psychologist, and a social worker to deal with each hostage,” Walz recalled. “And so, to date, we’ve dealt with 32 hostages and one dog.”
Sheba Medical Center at Tel Hashomer Hospital is the largest medical facility in Israel. It’s treated some 70 percent of the Israel
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