Six Israeli medical centers: Soroka, Schneider, Sheba, Wolfson, Assaf Harofeh, and Ichilov have been instructed to prepare to set up special compounds, separate from the rest of the patients, where the released hostages will be evacuated after their arrival.
The Health Ministry ordered the six hospitals that will receive women and children from Gaza to establish teams that include a pediatrician, a gynecologist, and a forensic medicine specialist.
“These are skilled teams that have gone through all the training in forensic medicine and collecting legal evidence,” a health ministry official told Haaretz.
Mental health professionals will also be available to the arriving hostages, who, according to a government announcement, will include children, mothers, and elderly women.
The health ministry also decided that, to the best of each hospital’s ability, male doctors, nurses, and Arab staff members should not be included in the treatment teams.
The six hospitals were picked for their unique specialties. Sheba, in Ramat Gan, and Soroka, in Beer Sheva, operate large trauma centers that will cater to hostages with serious injuries. Schneider, a children’s hospital in Tel Aviv, is better equipped to treat children’s physical and mental issues. Wolfson, in Holon, operates a ward for the treatment of acute victims of sexual assault and is located near the Institute for Forensic Medicine.
All six hospitals have been assigned the task of documenting and collecting evidence of war crimes – with the patients’ consent.
The chosen hospitals have sectioned off areas for the hostages and their families, with a special emphasis on rooms for mothers and their children.
Access to the hostages’ section will be restricted and strictly monitored, with security officers on guard against curious reporters.
