President Shimon Peres
is continuing his tour of the southern communities that are currently under fire. Monday afternoon he visited the soldiers wounded in the IDF's ground operation in the Gaza Strip hospitalized
at the Soroka Medical Center in Beersheba.
The president was escorted by hospital chief Dr. Miki Sherf, who briefed him on the hospital's deployment for the war and the status of the wounded.
Following this, Peres visited the surgical wards and spoke with the families of the soldiers who had been seriously wounded in battle. He then proceeded to the orthopedic ward where he spoke with the soldiers who had been lightly wounded.
Maxim, a 22-year-old soldier, was wounded Saturday in Gaza by mortar shrapnel. At the hospital, he was reunited with his unit-mates who had also been wounded. The soldier told Ynet, "I was in the company's territory when I looked up and then heard a loud boom. I saw red. I was wounded just above my elbow by shrapnel. I don't want my mom to come here so that she won't see me like this."
Peres with the wounded soldier, Maxim (Photo: Moshe Milner)
Maxim, who is supposed to be released from the hospital in another two weeks, has already made plans for what he will do when he gets out, "If the operation continues, I want to go back in. I don't want to be here. I want to be with my buddies."
Peres praised the IDF's work and the unit that gave rise to Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi, saying, "Golani is doing amazing work." He asked how long it took for the medic to approach the wounded soldier and was satisfied with the answer: "Two seconds."
He continued to praise the military at large: "The number of wounded shows that the IDF sufficiently planned for the operation. It isn't a simple battle that has been going on for some eight days. The results show the level of investment that has been put into ensuring that soldiers don't get hurt. It is above average deployment. I don't think there is any case with even a one percent higher level of saving lives than there is here."
Peres said to reporters on location at the hospital, "I hope that peace comes in any case and that Hamas will start to understand the price for its foolishness. We left Gaza once. We don't intend to take control of it again."
The president also praised the hospital's level of preparedness.
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