Israeli hospital says received 2,346 soldiers since war on Gaza began
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The Israeli Soroka Medical Center says it received 2,346 wounded soldiers since the start of Operation al-Aqsa Flood.
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An Israeli soldier wounded in the war on Gaza walks with crutches in the rehabilitation division of Sheba hospital in 'Ramat Gan', occupied Palestine, December 18, 2023. (AP)
Since the start of the Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip, the Israeli Soroka Medical Center received 2,346 wounded soldiers, the hospital's spokesperson said on Monday.
Thus far, the hospital is housing 42 wounded people, 13 of whom are in critical condition, the spokesperson said.
The hospital announced that it received, on Thursday alone, 16 wounded soldiers, and a day earlier it announced that it received 12 soldiers wounded in action in Gaza.
The whopping nearly 2,400 figure is exclusive to Soroka, as the head of the Disabled Veterans Organization, Idan Kleiman, told Bloomberg previously that the number of wounded soldiers was likely to reach 20,000 if mental disorders are taken into account.
Israeli Channel 12 revealed earlier that some 3,000 of those wounded in the war on Gaza were classified as "people with permanent disabilities in the army."
This comes after the Israeli occupation forces revealed that the number of soldiers killed in action since October 7's Operation al-Aqsa Flood has reached 501.
IOF: More than 5,000 soldiers assessed as wounded since Oct. 7
Each day, approximately 60 new injured Israeli soldiers are admitted to the rehabilitation department, which supports the wounded from the Israeli army and reserve forces. This figure does not account for those with regular wounds, as reported by "Israel's" Ynet news website on December 9.
The cumulative numbers since October 7 are "astronomical": more than 5,000 wounded Israeli soldiers have arrived at the hospitals, more than 2,000 have been officially recognized as disabled by the Israeli army and taken in by the Ministry of Security, and another 1,000 wounded are regular soldiers and are therefore being treated by the Israeli occupation forces, as per Israeli media.
Limor Luria, the head of the rehabilitation department at the Ministry of Security, stressed that they have never been through anything even similar to this, adding that more than 58% of the wounded who are taken in by the Ministry have sustained severe injuries to their hands and feet, including injuries that require amputations.
About 12% are internal injuries - Spleen, kidney, laceration of internal organs, she specified.
There are also head and eye injuries, and about 7% suffer from mental illnesses, a number that will skyrocket as it would take some time before they are diagnosed.
