Jerusalem, 23 December, 2025 (TPS-IL) — For the first time, a combined exercise was conducted today, Tuesday, involving the deployment of emergency and trauma medical teams from the Tel Aviv Medical Center (Ichilov) via an MDA helicopter, and a field hospital from Sheba Medical Center was actually deployed, including emergency medical treatment capabilities, hospitalization, an operating room, consulting clinics, imaging, and a laboratory. The emergency exercise was led by the Ministry of Health and the IDF’s (Israel Defense Forces) Home Front Command and held at the Ziv Medical Center in Safed. The exercise, which is part of a set of actions for emergency preparedness in the health system in general and for earthquakes in particular, simulates a devastating earthquake in Israel.
During the exercise, a discussion was held by the Prime Minister, with the participation of Health Minister Haim Katz, Health Ministry Director General Moshe Bar Siman Tov, Director of the Ziv Medical Center, Prof. Salman Zarka, and senior officials from the hospital as well as senior officials from the Home Front Command.
Ziv Hospital practiced the outline of a desert island, evacuating hospitalization departments and deploying emergency and treatment sites on the hospital grounds, and absorbing victims of the earthquake, both those who will be evacuated to the hospital by MDA and those who will arrive there independently.