{"id":579401,"date":"2026-08-09T10:46:08","date_gmt":"2026-08-09T10:46:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/579401\/"},"modified":"2026-08-09T10:46:08","modified_gmt":"2026-08-09T10:46:08","slug":"wounded-idf-soldiers-allegedly-mistreated-at-israeli-hospital-by-arab-staff","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/579401\/","title":{"rendered":"Wounded IDF soldiers allegedly mistreated at Israeli hospital by Arab staff"},"content":{"rendered":"

David Chesterman, the brother of one of four soldiers wounded<\/a> in Lebanon last week, alleged on Saturday that they were severely mistreated by Rambam Health Care Campus’s staff during their overnight stay at the Haifa hospital.<\/p>\n

In a post on Instagram, Chesterman alleged that the four soldiers<\/a>‘ families were not allowed to see their wounded loved ones, and that the soldiers were waiting for ages to receive food and water.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“My brother was seriously wounded<\/a> in Lebanon, and what happened afterward is simply inconceivable. Three days ago, he was hospitalized together with three other fellow soldiers. He was sedated and ventilated and only woke up yesterday afternoon, suffering from burns all over his body, pain, fever, and hallucinations,” he wrote.<\/p>\n

According to Chesterman, the shift on the ward changed during the night, and the families were asked to leave.<\/p>\n

“At night, a new shift arrived on the ward, all of them Arabic speakers. They removed all the families from the wards and locked the doors. Four seriously wounded soldiers find themselves alone for an entire night, surrounded by an Arabic-speaking staff behind locked doors. It’s completely insane.”<\/p>\n

Chesterman claimed that family members tried to enter the ward to check on his brother’s condition, but their requests were denied.<\/p>\n

“We asked to go in for just a second, to see that he was okay. They refused us again and again. I broke through the door and went in to see that my brother was okay. He wasn’t.”<\/p>\n

Brother of wounded soldier says he was ‘slammed into bed’ by Rambam nurses<\/p>\n

Upon entering the room, Chesterman stated he found his brother \u201cbegging for water, and no one was around.\u201d<\/p>\n

He whispered to me that they had turned him over in the bed brutally, ‘like a sardine,’ his head was slammed into the bed, and no one cared,” he said, and demanded to know who would take responsibility<\/p>\n

Rambam<\/a> addressed the issue by stating they take allegations of inappropriate treatment seriously, but would \u201cnot accept statements that disqualify or cast aspersions on the medical center’s staff on the basis of their community or ethnicity.”<\/p>\n

“Rambam has a multicultural staff comprising employees from all sectors, communities, and religions, who have devotedly treated the many wounded soldiers who have arrived at the medical center throughout the war,\u201d the hospital stated.<\/p>\n

\"IsraeliIsraeli soldiers and rescue forces wait for the arrival of a helicopter carrying a wounded soldier from Lebanon at Rambam Health Care Campus in Haifa, April 12, 2026 (credit: Sharon Leibel\/Flash90)Ben-Gvir calls on Health Ministry to probe, Katz calls on IDF to probe<\/p>\n

In response, Defense Minister Israel Katz called for the IDF to investigate the incident.<\/p>\n

\u201cI view with the utmost seriousness the testimonies that have been published regarding the treatment of wounded IDF soldiers at the hospital,” he said.<\/p>\n

“The heroic IDF soldiers who were wounded while defending the State of Israel deserve the most dedicated and best possible care, as well as respectful treatment for themselves and their families. I instructed the IDF to immediately and thoroughly investigate all the allegations raised with the hospital and the relevant authorities,” he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf it is found that any staff member treated the wounded soldiers in an improper or egregious manner, it will not be allowed to pass without action. We will not allow anyone to treat IDF soldiers who were wounded defending the country in this manner. We will demand answers, draw conclusions, and act to ensure that such an incident does not happen again.\u201d<\/p>\n

National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir also called for the Health Ministry to investigate whether the Rambam nurses were motivated by nationalistic sentiments.<\/p>\n

“If the serious testimonies emerging from Rambam Hospital are accurate, this is a grave scandal that should concern every citizen in Israel. It is unthinkable that hospital employees would harass, humiliate, or abuse wounded soldiers and the families of soldiers who risk their lives for the security of Israel’s citizens,” Ben-Gvir wrote in a statement.<\/p>\n

“These testimonies require an immediate, thorough investigation without any whitewashing, including an examination of whether, in some cases, the harassment was nationalistically motivated. Anyone who harms our soldiers and their families should know that there will be consequences,” he added.<\/p>\n

“I expect Rambam’s management and the Health Ministry to investigate the matter thoroughly and take severe action if the allegations are found to be true.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"David Chesterman, the brother of one of four soldiers wounded in Lebanon last week, alleged on Saturday that…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":579402,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[24742,42,86,1031,956,837,88,43,231265,24743,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-579401","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-haifas-rambam-hospital","tag-headlines","tag-hezbollah","tag-idf","tag-idf-soldiers","tag-itamar-ben-gvir","tag-lebanon","tag-news","tag-rambam-hospital","tag-rambam-medical-center","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/579401","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=579401"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/579401\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/579402"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=579401"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=579401"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=579401"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}