Israel’s defensive war in Gaza has been devastating, with 818 soldiers dead, 12,000 in rehabilitation, 40% with limb trauma, and a third of troops battling psychological wounds.

But inside Israel’s hospitals, a quiet revolution in combat medicine is taking shape.

Designed for amputees haunted by phantom pain, Israeli startup 6Degrees has developed the MyMove system, now employed at Sheba Medical Center in Ramat Gan.

Patients wear lightweight bands and VR headsets, engaging with games where virtual versions of their lost limbs move naturally. Clinical trials show 88% of users report significant pain relief.

For IDF soldier Aaron Bours, who lost over three inches of bone in his right leg while attempting to rescue his commanding officer, MyMove has been a game-changer.

“I broke a sweat like I hadn’t done in many months. It’s fun, so the results are that much better,” Bours tells the New York Post. “We’re a survivalist nation. We have to be because otherwise we’d die.”

At Sheba’s 3D Center, surgeons used a precisely designed skull model to reconstruct IDF officer Omri Rosenblit’s facial structure after he was severely injured when a building collapsed on him in Khan Yunis.

The technology even helped restore his vision. In another remarkable case, a 3D-printed implant helped reconstruct a shattered IDF canine’s skull.

Surgical robots are proving their worth at Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem, where Medtronic’s robotic guidance system removed a bullet lodged in a soldier’s sacrum in just 90 minutes, preventing paralysis and lead poisoning.

Meanwhile, Aidoc’s AI-powered medical imaging system is transforming emergency response, demonstrated dramatically when it helped save a 23-year-old Nova massacre survivor by mapping a bullet’s path through her brain in seconds.

The psychological toll of war has spurred equally innovative mental health solutions.

GenAI-powered platform LIV at Sheba helps overwhelmed psychiatrists by conducting initial patient interviews and gathering clinical data.

By the time patients meet with a psychiatrist, LIV’s detailed summaries allow doctors to focus on decision-making rather than lengthy intake sessions.

At Tel Aviv University, researchers have developed a self-guided version of trauma intervention, backed by Microsoft Israel R&D engineers.

Based on EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing), the technology is designed to prevent PTSD from developing after a traumatic event.

Even battlefield medicine has seen dramatic advances. Magen David Adom has helped IDF become the first military in the world to implement whole blood transfusions in combat zones, achieving a 93% survival rate for massive trauma cases.

New chip-bearing dog tags enable medics to track treatment details from battlefield to hospital bed.

Perhaps most surprising is the rise of unconventional treatments like NexoBrid, which uses pineapple stem enzymes to remove dead tissue from severe burns.

Recently FDA-approved for pediatric use, the U.S. Department of Defense has invested $15 million in this groundbreaking technology for Israel’s wounded soldiers.

Image - Meir Vaknin/Flash90