A year after a direct missile strike during Operation "With the Lion," Soroka Medical Center in Beersheba is rebuilding damaged wards and advancing plans for a large, fortified inpatient tower. The hospital says the attack severely disrupted operations, but it has already restored much of its activity while launching an extensive construction program.
Deputy CEO Yarden Nave said the damage was extensive, especially in the eye department, where "everything was shattered." The direct-hit area was demolished in a controlled way, other sections will be renovated, and more than 30% of operating rooms were destroyed. Soroka lost 144 inpatient beds in the attack, but quickly increased activity again. Nave said the new tower is in advanced planning, after receiving district committee approval in recent weeks, and construction is expected to take about seven years.
The planned building will cover about 70,000 square meters and include inpatient wards, operating rooms, brain and heart catheterization rooms, a brain center, a heart center, a dialysis unit, and an underground parking garage that can convert into an emergency hospital. It is expected to hold about 500 beds and be built to modern standards with full protection. In the coming year, Soroka plans four new projects, including an expanded emergency department and trauma room, plus new protected neonatal, research, and rehabilitation buildings, the last of which will include pediatric rehabilitation in southern Israel for the first time.
Nave said the hospital is also trying to retain staff, many of whom are now working from temporary sites. He noted that new facilities will still require hundreds of doctors and thousands of staff, and training medical personnel can take about 10 years. Soroka also has a resilience unit led by Dr. Yael Lebaot, created during the COVID period to identify emotional distress early and support staff after traumatic events. After the missile strike, the unit contacted about 1,700 employees within 72 hours. Lebaot said, "Resilience is not the absence of pain, but the ability to keep moving within it, together."
