- January 28, 2026
- 12:47 pm
- Israel
On the morning of Wednesday, January 28, 2026, the Ministry of Health of Israel published a summary report on the work of the healthcare system over more than two years of war. Formally — statistics. In fact — a document that records the moment of breakdown and the price that society continues to pay.
The first hours of the attack on October 7 are described in the report without euphemisms. The medics openly admit: the system did not work. There was no complete picture of what was happening, no understanding of the scale, and the well-established emergency response mechanism did not activate. Doctors and hospitals found themselves in improvisation mode, responding not to plans, but to the flow of incoming wounded.
Communication with the South of the country was absent at a critical moment. Medical services did not know what exactly was happening, how many casualties to expect, and where exactly. Decisions were made “on the spot” — as people arrived in emergency rooms, without preliminary data and coordination.
A separate line in the report highlights the work of the Center for Forensic Medicine. During the war period, 1,765 identification procedures were conducted there. Among them — 86 hostages. This is a dry figure, behind which are months of uncertainty for families and the burden on specialists working at the limit of human capabilities.
During the war, the country’s hospitals received and treated about 24,000 wounded. This is not about short-term assistance, but about full-fledged treatment — surgeries, rehabilitation, long-term medical support. The system withstood the physical blow, but the report clearly shows: the consequences of the war are not limited to this.
The most alarming section of the document is mental health. In 2025, 435,000 people received treatment in psychiatric clinics in Israel. This is 30% more than before the war, in 2022. During the same period, specialists conducted about 3.5 million therapeutic sessions — involving psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, and art therapists. The increase compared to pre-war times is 42%.
This data shows the war without front-line reports. Through overloaded clinics, queues to specialists, burnout of medical personnel, and people who are formally “in the rear” but live in a state of constant tension. It is this layer of consequences that today becomes a key challenge for the healthcare system — and for the state as a whole.
The Ministry of Health report records not only the past but also a foundation for the future: without systemic conclusions and changes, the next emergency situation may again catch the country off guard. And in this context, statistics cease to be a set of numbers and turn into a warning that cannot be ignored — both for society and for decision-makers. NAnews — News of Israel | Nikk.Agency
