IRON SWORDS
IMAJ | volume 28
Journal 7, July 2026
pages: 413-415
Hospital Preparedness and Emergency Response during the First 72 Hours of Missile Attacks: Operational Lessons from Wartime Experience
1 Hospital Management, Wolfson Medical Center, Holon, Israel
2 IMPACT Institute for Health Policy and Care Transformation Research, Wolfson Medical Center, Holon, Israel
3 Loewenstein Rehabilitation Hospital, Raanana, Israel
4 Gray Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel
Summary
Modern armed conflicts increasingly expose civilian infrastructure, including hospitals, to direct military threats such as missile attacks. Hospitals provide care for some of the most vulnerable patients, including bedridden individuals and those requiring continuous monitoring that cannot be easily relocated. Protecting these patients during active hostilities presents a major operational challenge. Hospitals must maintain clinical care, prepare for potential infrastructure damage, and remain ready to receive mass casualty victims. Previous disasters and conflict-related evacuations have demonstrated the complexity and risks of relocating hospitalized patients under emergency conditions [1,2].