{"id":317297,"date":"2026-03-07T07:19:11","date_gmt":"2026-03-07T07:19:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/317297\/"},"modified":"2026-03-07T07:19:11","modified_gmt":"2026-03-07T07:19:11","slug":"from-fortified-ors-to-popup-clinics-israels-medical-centers-streamline-wartime-operations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/317297\/","title":{"rendered":"From fortified ORs to popup clinics, Israel’s medical centers streamline wartime operations"},"content":{"rendered":"

Two days after the deadly Iranian missile attack on Beit Shemesh that killed nine and wounded dozens, Dr. Jonathan Lifshitz, a family doctor in the city\u2019s Mishlat General Clinic, traveled to Jerusalem to provide medical care to his patients who were among the 780 people evacuated to two Jerusalem hotels.<\/p>\n

On a hotel table covered with a tablecloth, Lifshitz connected two computers, setting up a makeshift clinic, and got to work.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I learned that my patients were evacuated from their homes, it was clear to me that I would reach out to them,\u201d Lifshitz said in a statement. \u201cBeyond medical care, sometimes the mere encounter with a familiar doctor gives a sense of security during such a turbulent time.\u201d<\/p>\n

In improved pop-up clinics, underground parking lots converted to wards and fortified operating rooms, hospitals and health clinics around the country are once again providing services under fire since the joint US-Israeli strikes on Iran began on February 28.<\/p>\n

Immediately after the start of the war, the Health Ministry directed medical centers around Israel to switch to emergency<\/a> mode, moving intensive care patients and operations to underground complexes or performing surgeries in protected spaces.<\/p>\n

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During the two years of war sparked by the bloody Hamas invasion of October 7, 2023, Israeli medical centers provided care even as some hospitals \u2014 such as Barzilai Medical Center in Ashkelon \u2014 sustained rocket damage themselves.<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/a>
\n\t\tDr. Yonatan Lifschitz, Family Physician at the Mishlat Clinic, Beit Shemesh, Clalit Jerusalem District, left, and Tamar Laufer, Chief Psychiatric Nurse, Clalit Jerusalem District, provide medical services at a Jerusalem hotel housing evacuees after the March 1, 2026, Iranian missile attack on Beit Shemesh on March 3, 2026. (Courtesy\/Spokesperson\u2019s Office, Clalit Jerusalem District)<\/p>\n

At Beersheba\u2019s Soroka University Medical Center, an Iranian ballistic missile slammed into the hospital\u2019s surgical ward during the 12-day war with Iran this past June, injuring more than 80 people and wrecking eight operating rooms along with six research laboratories.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is something that no hospital in Israel or the world has ever had to deal with,\u201d said Soroka University Medical Center director Prof. Shlomi Codish. \u201cSoroka now operates at the highest level of alert and continues to provide life-saving medicine.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/a>
\n\t\tSmoke rises from a building at the Soroka hospital complex after it was hit by a missile fired from Iran, in Beersheba, June 19, 2025. (AP\/Leo Correa)<\/p>\n

\u2018Implementing all the things we have learned\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been there, done that,\u201d was how Dr. Mira Maram, deputy director general at Clalit Health Services put it, speaking to The Times of Israel by telephone on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Maram, who oversees 14 hospitals across the country, said that after the war with Iran in June, which saw heavy incoming ballistic missile fire, \u201cWe\u2019re now implementing all the things we learned.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe learned exactly what kind of equipment we have to take, what kind of beds we need to take and the distance needed between them, how to handle infection control, and what other machines we need to bring,\u201d Maram said.<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/a>
\n\t\tDr. Mira Maran, right, Deputy Director General of Clalit Health Services, with staff at the Rabin Medical Center underground hospital. (Courtesy)<\/p>\n

Northern hospitals in \u2018fortified facilities\u2019<\/p>\n

Staff at the Galilee Medical Center in Nahariya, located less than 10 kilometers (six miles) from the northern border, went into emergency mode soon after the Health Ministry directive on February 28.<\/p>\n

In a race against the clock, a hospital spokesperson said the staff moved everything underground and into protected areas four hours faster than they did immediately after the start of the October 7 onslaught.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll surgical procedures, deliveries, and cardiac and neuro catheterizations are being conducted in fortified facilities,\u201d CEO\/Director Prof. Masad Barhoum told The Times of Israel.<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/a>
\n\t\tProf. Masad Barhoum, director-general of the Galilee Medical Center in Nahariya (Courtesy\/ Galilee Medical Center)<\/p>\n

During the 14 months of conflict with Hezbollah concurrent with the war in Gaza, Hezbollah fired thousands of rockets, missiles, and drones into northern Israel in support of Hamas. Amid the bombardments, hospital staff worked in underground, fortified rooms without windows or fresh air.<\/p>\n

After the temporary ceasefire was signed with Hezbollah in late November, the hospital began moving back to its regular facilities.<\/p>\n

However, deputy director Dr. Tsvi Sheleg said at the time<\/a>, \u201cIt could happen again, and we\u2019re still prepared to go underground.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since then, the hospital has expanded the inpatient internal medicine capacity by 60 beds. It has also activated semi-elective services within protected facilities, including oral and maxillofacial surgery and other services.<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/a>
\n\t\tMedical teams waiting for the arrival of injured people from the scene of a drone attack on the Druze village of Hurfeish, at Ziv Medical center in Safed, northern Israel, June 5, 2024. (David Cohen\/Flash90)<\/p>\n

In Safed, Prof. Salman Zarka, director of Ziv Medical Center, seven miles from the Lebanese border and 50 miles from the border with Syria, told The Times of Israel that after the conflicts of the last few years, the hospital teams are \u201caccustomed to dealing with extreme situations,\u201d such as the deadly July, 2024, Hezbollah missile attack on the Druze town of Majdal Shams in the Golan Heights, in which 12 children were killed and dozens wounded.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven in the most complex situation, such as a mass casualty incident, civilians and soldiers are in the most skilled hands,\u201d Zarka said.<\/p>\n

After the June war, said Dr. Osnat Levtzion-Korach, the director of Shamir Medical Center in central Israel, hospital staff \u201cprepared a heavy, thick booklet with the protocols\u201d for transferring patients and equipment to parking lots three to four stories underground.<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/a>
\n\t\tShamir Medical Center staff move patients to underground facilities in the hospital\u2019s parking lot on February 28, 2026. (Courtesy)<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a whole operation,\u201d said Levtzion-Korach. \u201cIt\u2019s huge, and it\u2019s definitely not easy.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said that the staff \u201ctweaked different things, but the protocol that worked for us then worked very well this time.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/a>
\n\t\tDr. Osnat Levtzion-Korach, the director of Shamir Medical Center, stands in the hospital\u2019s underground facility. (Courtesy)<\/p>\n

Even before the Health Ministry\u2019s directive, Levtzion-Korach began preparations in case a war with Iran broke out, and closed the underground parking lot to be ready to receive patients.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s really unimaginable what we\u2019ve done here, but it\u2019s a temporary solution,\u201d she said. \u201cThe right solution is to build departments that are protected so that the patient can stay in their own bed. Having 200 patients in a parking lot is definitely not ideal. There\u2019s no privacy, there\u2019s no infection control management. Of course, it\u2019s very safe, but it has many issues. Thankfully, all the patients are very collaborative and cooperative, and you don\u2019t hear any complaints.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll probably get invited to conferences of CEOs of hospitals to tell people how to deal with earthquakes or other emergencies,\u201d she quipped. \u201cThere\u2019s much to learn from us, and we\u2019ll share the knowledge that we have here.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Two days after the deadly Iranian missile attack on Beit Shemesh that killed nine and wounded dozens, Dr.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":317298,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[134,527,111,139,69],"class_list":{"0":"post-317297","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-healthcare","8":"tag-health","9":"tag-healthcare","10":"tag-new-zealand","11":"tag-newzealand","12":"tag-nz"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/317297","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=317297"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/317297\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/317298"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=317297"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=317297"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=317297"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}