The IDF and the Health Ministry on Friday denied rumors circulating over the past 24 hours about hospital evacuations and the transfer of medical departments to underground facilities, saying there has been no change in emergency preparedness despite ongoing tensions surrounding Iran and the reinforcement of U.S. forces in the region.
IDF spokesperson Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin said the military is fully prepared for both defense and offense, but stressed that there is no change in Home Front Command guidelines.
“Ahead of the Sabbath, I want to say to all Israeli citizens: The IDF is optimally prepared, both defensively and offensively,” Defrin said at midday. “It is important to emphasize that there is no change in Home Front Command instructions. We will update you if there is any change. Continue to listen only to authorized sources and the IDF spokesperson and do not cooperate with rumors.”
The Health Ministry also stressed that there has been no change in the alert status. In recent days, the ministry distributed an updated guidance document on a rapid transition from routine to emergency operations to hospital directors, health maintenance organizations and the director general of Magen David Adom.
The document, signed by the deputy director general of the Health Ministry, said lessons learned from the war and from Operation Rising Lion highlighted the need to accelerate processes for shifting from routine to emergency conditions. “These lessons point to the need to speed up the transition from routine to emergency, through the establishment of structured guidelines that will allow immediate action in the field when the alert status changes,” the document said. It described the instructions as preliminary measures that would be activated immediately if the alert level changes, with additional guidance to be issued after a situation assessment by the National Health Emergency Operations Center.
The Health Ministry emphasized that the guidance is part of an ongoing lessons-learned process and does not indicate a change in preparedness. “The entire health system is currently at Alert Level B, and no active preparedness steps are required at this stage,” the document said.
According to the guidance, if a nationwide “essential activity only” defensive policy is declared, the health system would fully activate emergency headquarters, shift staff to 12-hour rotations, halt outpatient clinics, consultations and planned procedures, and prepare to receive casualties from mass-casualty incidents. Hospitals would be required to rapidly discharge up to 50% of patients where possible, clear visitors to the extent feasible, and move operations as quickly as possible to approved protected spaces, including the activation of underground hospitalization capacity.
General hospitals would also need to prepare to activate or expand home-hospitalization frameworks, ensure the availability of supplies and verify the functionality of wireless communications and satellite equipment if needed. In the community health system, emergency conditions would trigger mental health support hotlines and an expanded use of telemedicine services.
The document also outlines emergency procedures for long-term care facilities, including geriatric, psychiatric and rehabilitation hospitals. These facilities would be required to carry out rapid and extensive discharges to community settings and prepare to absorb large numbers of patients transferred from general hospitals who require continued inpatient care.
Both the IDF and the Health Ministry reiterated that these measures are contingency plans only and that, at this stage, there is no change in hospital operations or public guidance.