Israel's largest hospital, Sheba Medical center, has shifted critical operations to a fortified multi-level underground facility, to shelter patients during ongoing missile strikes from Iran, the hospital said on Monday.
The subterranean space under several buildings in the complex, used mainly as a car park, is now equipped with medical gear and other installations to allow the continuation of treatment even as as daily air raid sirens send Israelis to shelters across the country.
Located in Ramat Gan, near the city of Tel Aviv, the hospital says it treats over one million patients a year.
While most wards have been shifted underground, others are now operating from sheltered spaces in the medical complex.
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Yoel Har Even, Vice President of Sheba Global, showed Reuters one of several underground spaces, where 261 beds for patients of surgery, internal medicine and others are treated. He said the stay there could be unlimited if needed.
Israeli patient Shimi Weiss described an "unbelievable experience."
"We're all like laughing about it, look, it's a war'," he said.
(Production: Artorn Pookasook, Avivit Delgoshen)