Eli Jaffe, Oren Wacht, Nadav Davidovitch, Refael Strugo, Oren Blustein, Ido Rosenblat, Eli Bin, Stav Shapira
On 7 October 2023, Israel faced an unexpected attack by Hamas, causing over 1,200 deaths and injuring more than 9,000 individuals. This report delves into the rapid medical response spearheaded by Israel's civilian Emergency Medical Service, Magen David Adom (MDA), during this crisis. Utilizing data from MDA's electronic database, 4,097 dispatch records from the day were analyzed. Of these, 39.3% were directly related to the attack. EMS teams faced multiple challenges, including handling an overwhelming number of casualties and navigating active combat zones, which impeded safe access to victims, posed significant risks to teams' safety, and constrained patient evacuation strategies...
2024: International Journal of Public Health