As Israel confronts a multi-front war backed by Iran, an expanding range of battlefield medical innovations developed by the Israeli military is helping save soldiers’ lives—and may also benefit the United States.
News Media received a briefing on Israel’s latest battlefield medicine data and lifesaving results from a senior Israel Defense Forces (IDF) medical specialist.
The IDF’s grueling ground offensive against Hamas, a U.S.-designated terrorist organization, began in the Gaza Strip in October 2023 after the group’s Oct. 7 invasion of Israel. The campaign has driven the introduction of advanced medical tactics in combat.
IDF troops carry an injured soldier out of a burning building in Gaza. (IDF)
Hamas murdered more than 1,200 people in southern Israel, including over 40 Americans, and abducted 251 others.
An IDF spokesman described the changes: “The IDF Medical Corps adapted its operational capabilities during the war, including casualty evacuation, innovative medical technologies and providing treatment under fire in challenging terrain.”
The IDF medical specialist told News Media that during the 2006 Second Lebanon War against Hezbollah, “it took 15 to 20 minutes for advanced life support to reach a casualty. Now advanced life support can reach a casualty immediately or within four minutes.”
IDF troops evacuate an injured soldier from Gaza during intense fighting with Hamas terrorists. (IDF)
Positioning more medical personnel on the battlefield—including a doctor in every company—allows the IDF to make crucial treatment decisions earlier, the specialist said. Helicopters also play a central role by transporting critically wounded soldiers to medical facilities, a measure shown in video footage provided to News Media that can help prevent deaths.
The second major improvement is “rapid evacuation,” the specialist said, explaining: “We can evacuate casualties to Israeli hospitals rapidly.”
IDF forces are seen operating in Rafah, a city in the Gaza Strip. (IDF Spokesman’s Unit)
The IDF has also focused on using blood products to control severe bleeding since 2013, the specialist said. He added that the IDF is the first medical organization to use plasma at the point of injury instead of salt and water.
The military introduced a sophisticated system for rapidly delivering blood to wounded troops. In one example, first responders carried blood in coolers on their backs to help control hemorrhaging. According to the specialist, the approach “saved significant numbers” of injured soldiers.
Another wartime improvement involves an “advanced system of learning and the collection of data that transmits the data over technical networks so that every provider can see patient data.”
The specialist said, “Every relevant medical officer in the chain can see the patient data. This system had very good results.”
IDF rapid medical evacuation of wounded soldiers from Lebanon via helicopter. (IDF)
The case mortality rate is the key measure for evaluating battlefield care, the specialist said. IDF data show a substantial improvement: The mortality rate fell from 15% during the 2006 war against Hezbollah to 7.1% in 2023.
The IDF medical system has drawn on the foundational 2012 U.S. study “Death on the battlefield (2001–2011): Implications for the future of combat casualty care,” which examined American medical support during the Iraq War.
IDF medical personnel with wounded soldiers in Lebanon waiting for the arrival of the helicopter. (IDF)
Dr. Marc Siegel, Fox News’ senior medical analyst, clinical professor of medicine and practicing internist at NYU Langone Medical Center, told News Media: “Battlefield advances based on the latest technologies developed in Israel, including surgical techniques and the latest burn treatment, Nexobrid, help not just today’s wounded but fuel medical and surgical advances around the world.”
Siegel’s latest book “The Angels Among Us: How God’s Messengers Play a Role in Healing,” features a chapter involving a medical rescue during the Gaza war.
The U.S. Army and the IDF have been cooperating in how to advance battlefield medicine for years.
The IDF medical team rushed the wounded soldier in Lebanon to a helicopter for airlift to hospital. (IDF)
According to an April 2026 U.S. military report titled “Israeli Defense Force Medical Lessons Learned,” the American military authors explained in the 78-page study the pressing need to absorb Israel’s advances from the start of the Swords of Iron War campaign in 2023.
The U.S. Army wrote, “In the fields of operational health and force readiness, the IDF executed proactive public health measures – including robust bio-surveillance, forward-positioned preventive medicine teams and stringent food safety protocols – to mitigate health threats and maintain operational readiness.”
The American army warned that “Despite Israel’s preparations, it had to undergo a painful process of transformation in contact that the U.S. now has the opportunity to avoid. The time for preparation is now. Simply possessing clinical and tactical skills is insufficient.”
An IDF spokesman told News Media that the U.S. Army study of Israel’s emergency health care providers during the wars” was a joint collaboration, and American officers came to learn from the IDF.”