At Rambam Health Care Campus (Rambam), the connection between the battlefield and recovery is immediate and deeply personal.
Just weeks before he was killed in action, the soon-to-be-wed Captain Maoz Israel Recanati left an active operation in southern Lebanon and came directly to Rambam to visit wounded soldiers under his command. As the largest medical center in Northern Israel, Rambam houses specialised trauma and intensive care units.
During his visit, Recanati went from bed to bed, strengthening his soldiers. In one room, he met R., a 22‑year‑old tank soldier from the 77th Battalion, who had been seriously injured in combat. Standing beside his hospital bed, Recanati handed him a large flag from the Golani Brigade’s 12th Battalion, a personal symbol of resilience, and promised to soon return.
The flag remained hanging in R.’s room at Rambam
R., who continues to receive treatment and faces a long rehabilitation process following his injuries, insisted on attending his fellow soldier’s funeral in a wheelchair just days after receiving the flag. Above his bed now hang both the flag and a photo of his fallen comrade, Sergeant Idan Fooks, who was also killed in the same attack. The caption: “Live like there’s no tomorrow.”
This story reflects the reality Rambam faces each day since October 2023: soldiers arrive directly airlifted from the battlefield with severe blast injuries, shrapnel and other complex wounds, and immediately enter the hospital’s emergency and critical care system.
Based on an original Hebrew language article that first appeared on ynet.
