Two soldiers from Yahalom, the IDF’s elite combat engineering unit, who were seriously wounded early Saturday by a Hezbollah explosive drone near the Ali Taher Ridge in Lebanon, remain hospitalized in serious condition in the intensive care unit at Rambam Health Care Campus in Haifa.
The condition of a 23-year-old IDF officer wounded in the same incident has improved. He was transferred Sunday morning to the hospital’s orthopedic department and is now listed in moderate condition. All three soldiers are expected to undergo surgery in the coming days.
Three soldiers wounded by a Hezbollah drone in Lebanon arrive at Rambam hospital
(Video: Rambam Health Care Campus)
Friends and fellow Yahalom soldiers gathered Sunday near the intensive care unit to support the wounded soldiers’ families.
One of the seriously wounded soldiers, identified only as A., is from the Jezreel Valley. His family has asked the public to pray for his recovery.
The second seriously wounded soldier is A., 21, from Moshav Givat Hen in central Israel. His parents, Haim and Michal Weiss, his sisters, 18 and 15, and his grandmother have been keeping vigil outside his room.
Haim said his eldest son had long wanted to serve in the Combat Engineering Corps. For the family, however, the hospitalization has also reopened memories from more than three decades ago.
“I was also wounded in Lebanon, in 1994, when I was with a paratrooper force near the village of Sujud,” he said. “I was also evacuated by helicopter to Rambam. And now here I am again, with my mother.”
His mother recalled sitting in the same hospital after her son was wounded.
“More than 30 years ago, I was here in the intensive care unit when my son was wounded in Lebanon, and those were complicated and difficult days,” she said. “Now I’m here again. We know my grandson is strong and he will get through this.”
Haim said his son had been in immediate danger after losing a large amount of blood.
“He lost a lot of blood and was in real danger of his life, but he is a very strong young man,” he said. “There is an amazing medical team here and we hope he will slowly get through this. The rapid treatment in the field saved the soldiers in the force. We understand this is going to be a difficult and long process.”
Several Yahalom soldiers who were present during the attack also arrived at Rambam to support the families. They told relatives that in such circumstances there is very little troops can do once an explosive drone is already approaching the force.
(Photo: Eitan Glickman)
Two other IDF soldiers remain hospitalized in serious condition in Rambam’s intensive care unit after a separate deadly explosive attack in the village of Majdal Zoun in southern Lebanon.
Capt. (res.) Harel Birenstock and Master Sgt. (res.) Tamir Vaknin were killed in that incident. One of the seriously wounded soldiers is Dolev Amir of Karmiel.
Two additional soldiers wounded in the Majdal Zoun attack have since been transferred to hospitals in central Israel after their conditions improved.