As Missiles Fly, Israeli Medical Center Goes Underground to Keep Facilities Safe, Operational

RAMAT GAN, Israel – Almost a year into Israel's war against Hamas, the conflict grows more intense with Hezbollah in the north. As missile attacks increase, hospitals are crucial and could become targets.

One medical center near Tel Aviv has gone underground with a unique solution to help keep them safe and operational.

Sheba Medical Center has been a key part of the war effort since the Hamas invasion. 

Steve Walz, the center's global media director, told CBN News, "We've treated well over 1600 soldiers and civilians, mostly soldiers. And I can say that the challenge is there on a day-to-day basis still, because, there's still, unfortunately, a war going on in Gaza."

Walz says that in addition to the casualties of war, hospital personnel have been unusually busy this summer treating sick Israelis.

"So the hospital's been challenged," he explained. "The staff has been challenged. People try and escape for a few days. The staff tries to escape for a few days just to reboot and come back to ourselves because not only is the war not over, we don't know what's going to be going forward."

Six floors underground at the Sheba Medical Center, they have a complete hospital ready just in case there's a massive missile attack.

Walz said the area was originally built and created during the COVID era. "We really didn't know how many sick patients we would get," he stated, "But we kept it because we know that we live in an area where missiles are falling all the time. So, we knew that one day this would come to, into use."

This is especially important, given the threats from multiple fronts, including Iran, against heavily populated areas such as Tel Aviv.

"Each area here is designated for a different section of the hospital, and we would be able to move them down here quickly – and they can stay down here for as long as needed, and the doctors would be here to tend to patients," Walz said. "The electricity is such that we can hook up dialysis patients. And we have hundreds of beds ready and capable of being used for patients in an emergency."

Above ground, the hospital covers 200 acres with 2,000 beds. Various underground sections can house hundreds of potential patients, and if that's not enough, Walz explained, "If we have something catastrophic, this hospital has two alternatives. It can move more people under the maternity hospital and in an extreme emergency, and we drill this, once a year or once every other year, we can actually build a field hospital outside."

He continued, "In other words, if, God forbid, one of the buildings here was damaged and they could not return to the main hospital or one of the other hospitals, we have five hospitals on campus, we can actually have the capability of building a field hospital in one of the major parking lots and operate that."

In addition to the operation here in Ramat Gan, Rambam Medical Center in Haifa and others in Israel also have underground facilities. Given this literal groundbreaking idea, other countries have come to Israel for help. 

"Israel is unique because we get missiles all the time," Walz related. "Actually, Sheba Medical Center has been asked by other hospitals around the world, especially those that are, let's say, in Germany – that are unfortunately, close to the area where the Ukraine war is going on with Russia."

One area housing a large number of Russian ballistic missiles is just ten minutes' flying time from downtown Berlin. 

"None of them are prepared for an emergency," Walz stressed, "How to move patients, how to build areas that are more secure. So, they've come here, and we've gone to them to offer advice as to how to quickly prepare in the case of an emergency if missiles start falling on them."

The U.S. is also well aware of Sheba's unique approach. 

'We're prepared, for any eventuality," Walz claimed. "And I can say that the U.S. military has come here and visited this exact location to see how we would handle this because we do have a very special relationship. Israel has a special relationship with Centcom and the Fifth Fleet. Unfortunately, this is a hospital that's prepared 365 days a year, 24/7."

Walz told CBN News that Jews and Arabs work together non-stop for the common cause of saving lives. He sees their resilience as a great example of Israel's ability to keep going in the face of all its threats.

And Sheba's message to the world?

"Our slogan is, is that we offer hope without boundaries. And that is what we live on here," he explained. "That is the DNA of our hospital, is that we offer – hope without boundaries. And we do that 365 days a year."

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