Israeli hospitals go underground as war looms
With a ground war in Gaza and escalation of rocket fire imminent, Israeli hospitals are going underground.
Workers at the Western Galilee Medical Centre in Nahariya prepare a protected underground area to receive patients on Oct. 24, 2023. Photo by Yoav Dudkevitch/TPS
The Galilee Medical Center in the northern city of Nahariya moved its 700 beds below ground and has a series of tunnels for ambulances to safely deliver patients.
The hospital is located just 10 km from the Lebanese border.
“As of Saturday, we began preparations to move all the inpatients of the medical centre to protected hospitalization and treatment spaces, the hospital’s deputy director, Dr. Zvi Sheleg, told the Tazpit Press Service.
“The critical sites themselves, the ER, the shock [trauma] rooms, the operating rooms are all protected every day so that it’s the same space. All the underground hospital sites are connected by tunnels through which the wounded, teams and more can be transported.”
He added that 30 percent of the beds have been placed on standby and are being made ready to receive patients.
Since October 7, terror groups in Lebanon have been firing anti-tank rockets at Israeli military positions and communities near the border, including Nahariya.
“So far, we have received over 200 wounded from the battles near the Lebanese border, some of them soldiers, some of them civilians,” Sheleg noted.
TPS
