Zachy Hennessey
October 6, 2024, Updated October 7, 2024

“This injury has become my life.”

Aaron, a 33 year-old former New Yorker with a confident posture and a charismatic demeanor, sits on a sofa in Sheba Medical Center in Ramat Gan. Beside him, a crutch leans against the couch. His right leg is wrapped in bandages.

Since he was injured during reserve duty at the outbreak of the war in Gaza, Aaron has felt a major shift in how he is perceived by the world, and even by himself.

“I’m an injured soldier. I’m not a marketer. I’m not Aaron. I’m an injured soldier, first and foremost.”

On October 30, the newly-married reservist was deployed into Gaza and his unit was ambushed by Hamas fighters. He sustained several life-threatening injuries: shrapnel wounds in his hip and back, an AK-47 bullet in his left leg, and a sniper bullet in his right leg that demolished 8 centimeters of bone.

After crawling to safety, he was airlifted to Sheba, Israel’s largest medical center, where the staff saved his life and both of his legs.

Aaron has been in rehab for 10 months. Photo by Natalie Selvin/ISRAEL21c
Aaron has been in rehab for 10 months. Photo by Natalie Selvin/ISRAEL21c

Aaron has spent the last 10 months in recovery in Sheba’s rehabilitation center, which was expanded at the onset of the war to meet the enormous demand for trauma care and rehabilitation for civilians and soldiers following the deadly October 7 attack throughout southern Israel and the ensuing conflict.

Every day, he spends up to six hours in occupational therapy, physical therapy, hydrotherapy, psychotherapy, even virtual reality — all in an effort to recover from the immense trauma he has suffered.

A nation in recovery

Aaron is one of thousands of soldiers — let alone civilians — in major need of rehabilitation following the Hamas attacks of October 7, 2023.

IDF statistics reveal that from October 7 until mid-August 2024, a total of 4,310 soldiers had sustained injuries. This includes 640 severe cases, 1,083 moderate injuries, and 2,587 minor wounds. 

The current ground operation against Hamas in Gaza has resulted in 2,206 soldier casualties, with 417 critically injured, 675 moderately wounded, and 1,114 suffering minor injuries, as per the reported data.

And when taking into consideration the extreme mental strain that war has put veterans through, the numbers grow significantly.

According to the Defense Ministry Rehabilitation Department — a government body dedicated to supporting injured national security veterans (such as soldiers and police officers) — 10,056 soldiers needed treatment since the beginning of the war through mid-August.

Of those, around 3,500 (35%) were suffering from traumatic mental disorders, including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

These numbers are nowhere near final. As tensions ratchet up in the north, the number of traumatized and disabled veterans will only rise — especially considering that PTSD has a nasty tendency to linger for years after the events that cause it. The Defense Ministry Rehab Department predicts that as of 2030 it will be serving something like 100,000 soldiers in total.

That’s a lot of rehab.

And because of that need, medical facilities like Sheba have dedicated a lot of time and resources into facilitating the rehabilitation of soldiers, civilians and returned hostages.

Big hospital, huge need

In total, Sheba medical center cares for around 1.9 million patients every year. Its campus is the size of a small town, containing 120 departments and clinics spread throughout a half dozen hospitals. It has a five-story underground hospital facility, a military landing pad, a hotel, a manmade lake/water reservoir and a shopping mall.

Sheba has a helicopter landing pad to bring in wounded soldiers from the field. Photo by Natalie Selvin/ISRAEL21c
Sheba has a helicopter landing pad to bring in wounded soldiers from the field. Photo by Natalie Selvin/ISRAEL21c

On top of that, the hospital is currently undergoing construction to add even more capacity (and another shopping mall).

According to Steve Walz, Sheba’s head of International Media and Public Affairs, over 1,700 civilians and soldiers (including 70 percent of the soldiers injured in Gaza) have already been treated at Sheba since October 7.

As of today, Sheba has rehabilitated more than 600 civilians and soldiers injured in the ongoing Gaza conflict in it’s newly-dedicated rehabilitation department.

And while the inflow of newly wounded soldiers has recently waned, traffic is liable to pick up again.

“The war in Gaza is winding down; we used to get two helicopters a day that would bring injured soldiers, and I can thankfully say we haven’t seen too many helicopters lately and hopefully it’ll stay that way,” Walz says. “But as things heat up in the north, we expect that if things keep going the way they’re going, we will get more.”

Coming back to life

At the beginning of the war, the staff at Sheba repurposed the second floor of the geriatric rehabilitation hospital into the Returning to Life Rehabilitation Center for War Casualties. 

As mentioned before, the hospital has rehabilitated more than 600 people thus far (all but five of whom are men). Around 70 are typically in treatment at any given time

The geriatric rehabilitation hospital’s second floor was expanded and converted into Sheba’s soldier rehabilitation ward. Photo by Natalie Selvin/ISRAEL21c
The geriatric rehabilitation hospital’s second floor was expanded and converted into Sheba’s soldier rehabilitation ward. Photo by Natalie Selvin/ISRAEL21c

Walking through the facility, you see tens of young men making their way through the halls in wheelchairs or on crutches. They sit together for a smoke on the outdoor patio, listen to music in the rec room and go through the long process of reclaiming abilities that were lost on the battlefield.

Returning to Life is equipped with a wide range of rehabilitation apparatuses, training and sports equipment and video game systems. Daily classes and activities such as yoga and cooking help get patients back into control of their bodies and minds in a healthy and positive environment.

Vardi Rubin, the ward’s head of physio and occupational therapy, explains that for many of the soldiers, treatment is a long and grueling process.

But, she adds, “Miracles happen here every day.” 

“Every time they use their hands. Every time they can walk. Every time they can shoot the ball. It’s a miracle. You know, they went through hell. They survived it. And now they’re just… they’re going back to life,” Rubin says.

The soft things in between

When asked to identify the most prevalent form of trauma they deal with at Sheba, the center’s head of soldier rehabilitation, Prof. Israel Dudkiewicz, considers for a moment.

“There are a lot of injuries to extremities, but I’ve seen trauma from here,” he says, pointing to his head and sweeping his finger down to his feet, “to there.”

Dudkiewicz explains the many challenges facing the new rehab expansion, which range from predictable issues such as finding enough personnel, to less predictable issues such as the logistics of supplying enough milk for 1,500 cups of coffee consumed by the soldiers and their visiting friends and families.

A diverse staff of workers fill the Sheba rehab center. Photo by Natalie Selvin/ISRAEL21c
A diverse staff of workers fill the Sheba rehab center. Photo by Natalie Selvin/ISRAEL21c

“But the most challenging thing was how we can take in these soldiers and have them feel that we care and we want their time spent here to help them do better; to give them better chances to get back to their lives,” he says.

“That means that it’s not just physiotherapy and depression therapy. It’s not just the psychology. It’s the soft things in between. It means that in the afternoon, there’s something to do. They can sit with their friends in a comfort zone, like the club room, or on the balcony, and speak, and smoke and understand that someone sees them.”

For this reason, the staff has hired entertainers and has organized volunteers to make the ward feel comfortable and, frankly, nicer to be in for the young soldiers who have no choice but to stay there while they recover.

A long road ahead

Aaron has yet to finish his rehabilitation, but he recognizes that he has come a long way.

“I’m a pretty positive person. I’m lucky to be here with my leg, and even though it hurts like hell, and I just had another surgery a month ago, at least I’m in a position where I can make that full recovery and eventually get full mobility back,” he says.

“I’m very grateful to be here in this rehab center and for all the facilities, the ridiculous amount of treatments they allow us to partake in.”

Asked if he plans on getting back into IDF service, Aaron has no two minds about it.

“I don’t know if I’ll ever be cleared for full combat again, because of the weight you have to carry — at least for the next two years I won’t be able to — but if you’re asking if mentally I’m ready to go back, then the answer is yes,” he says.

“It’s really hard to be away from my unit while they keep getting called up. I know what they’re going through. I feel nothing has changed in terms of my loyalties and my understanding of what we’re doing and the mission at hand.”

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