Israeli hospitals record over 5,000 wounded in fight against Hezbollah
Directors of hospitals in northern Israel say no one prepared them for 11 months 'underground' treating the wounded
More than 5,000 Israeli soldiers have been injured while fighting against Hezbollah near the Lebanon border since 8 October, according to hospital records from the Galilee Medical Center in Nahariya and the Zif Hospital in Safed, Yediot Ahronoth reported on 27 August.
The Israeli newspaper said the directors of the two hospitals fear the fighting on the northern front will not end anytime soon. “Eleven months underground, and we cannot see the end,” the directors said.
The director of Zif Hospital, Salman Zarqa, said his hospital had treated about 450 Israeli soldiers wounded as a result of Hizbollah’s operations, even though “The days of the real fighting have not yet come.”
“I’m not talking about operational incidents. I’m talking about the shooting, about the shrapnel, about the direct injuries. These are very large numbers,” Zarqa said.
He added that Israel has only ever fought short-term wars, while today’s battle has lasted 11 months. He called for a balance between “life-saving treatment” and the readiness to treat many wounded. Zif pointed out that balancing the two is “exhausting and difficult, especially when you see no end to them.”
Massad Barhoum, the director of the Galilee Medical Center in Nahariya, also stated there is “no end in sight” to the fighting. “No one prepared us to stay underground for 11 months. It’s a very, very big challenge,” he added.
Barhoud stated that the center had received about 1,700 soldiers wounded in combat, in addition to another 3,500 soldiers from the northern front suffering from “other diseases.”
He warned that the medical system in Israel’s north is being overwhelmed with injured patients, despite efforts to equip the hospitals in the region. He added that many of the wounded soldiers demanded to receive treatment in other areas of Israel, far from the border with Lebanon.