On Tuesday evening, an official Israeli channel reported that the Ministry of Health directed hospitals in the north to prepare for the influx of thousands of wounded, against the backdrop of escalating tension with the Lebanese Hezbollah.
The channel “Kan”, affiliated with the Israeli Broadcasting Corporation, reported that the Director-General of the Israeli Ministry of Health, Moshe Bar Siman Tov, instructed all hospitals in Israel to be ready to switch to emergency mode within 24 hours upon request.
The channel explained that in an emergency, hospitals would move into protected spaces (shelters), discharge patients who can be sent home, and prepare for a large number of injured individuals.
Furthermore, hospitals in the north have been asked to be able to enter a state of emergency within hours, and if necessary, maintain an occupancy rate of 50% to allow for the reception of the injured in protected areas only.
The channel stated that the Israeli Ministry of Health is also preparing for a scenario where medical staff might be affected or required to join the reserve service, so it is preparing a reserve of doctors from abroad.
The Ministry has directed Ziv Hospital in Safed and the Galilee Medical Center in Nahariya to prepare for a remote island situation, which includes the possibility of managing for days without medical supplies, medications, and food, according to the same source.
Approximately 7,000 Jewish doctors have expressed their willingness to volunteer and help, and if necessary, they will be asked to come to Israel to assist, as reported by Kan.
Observers note that the situation in which Hezbollah maintained specific rules of engagement in its military confrontation with Israel, acting as a supporting front for Gaza, has collapsed. This comes with the expansion of battles with Israel following the assassinations carried out by Israel in Lebanon.
Hostilities between the two sides escalated following the assassination by Tel Aviv of Saleh al-Arouri, Deputy Head of Hamas's Political Bureau, in the southern suburbs of Beirut on January 2, and the prominent Hezbollah field commander Wissam al-Taweel, in an Israeli airstrike targeting his car in southern Lebanon on Monday.
Earlier on Tuesday, Hezbollah fired a drone for the first time during the current round of confrontations at the Northern Command headquarters of the Israeli army in Safed (north), to which Israel responded by killing three of its members.
In solidarity with the Gaza Strip, Hezbollah and Palestinian factions in Lebanon have been exchanging intermittent shelling with the Israeli military since October 8, resulting in dozens of casualties and injuries on both sides of the border.
