Near-miss massacre: How one order saved Soroka’s patients under missile fire - Jerusalem Post Staff

 

by Jerusalem Post Staff

Thanks to Bar Siman-Tov’s pre-emptive order, only one patient suffered a minor injury after an Iranian missile slammed into Soroka hospital.

 

Saved the lives of medical staff and patients. Director General of the Health Ministry Moshe Bar Siman Tov during Covid-19 crisis in 2019

(photo credit: YONATAN SINDEL/FLASH90)

 

About 24 hours before ballistic missiles hit Soroka Medical Center in Beersheba on Thursday, Health Ministry Director-General Moshe Bar Siman-Tov made a dramatic decision that essentially saved dozens, if not hundreds, of lives: “Clear the surgery floor in the hospital; it’s not safe.”

The staff did so, though some thought he was exaggerating. On Thursday, they all understood why.

At dawn, sirens wailed across the Negev as an Iranian missile slammed into the now-empty third-floor surgical ward. Structural damage was severe, but thanks to Bar Siman-Tov’s foresight, only one patient suffered a minor injury.

Dozens of others who would have been in harm’s way had already been relocated to safer levels, turning what could have been a catastrophe into a narrow escape.

Their vacancy proved lifesaving

Bar Siman-Tov’s directive came Wednesday afternoon, when intelligence assessments warned of a coordinated barrage of more than 20 missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles aimed at overwhelming Israel’s defenses.

Smoke rises from the scene where a ballistic missile fired from Iran hit and caused damage at the Soroka Medical Center in Be'er Sheva, June 19, 2025. (credit: DUDU GREENSPAN/FLASH90)

Recognizing Soroka’s surgical unit as particularly vulnerable, he instructed hospital administrators to transfer every patient and staff member from that floor to alternate wings. By nightfall, operating theaters lay silent, and by sunrise, their vacancy proved lifesaving.

Born October 21, 1976, in Yehud and raised in Holon and Hashmonaim to a family of Turkish descent, Bar Siman-Tov holds a BA and an MBA in economics and finance from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He worked at the National Insurance Institute managing welfare and health budgets, then rose to deputy budget director at the Finance Ministry in 2010. There, he brokered the 2011 doctors’ strike settlement and helped craft major education reforms.

After seven years as Israel’s economic attaché in Washington, he returned in 2015 as the Health Ministry’s first non-physician director-general. His tenure has been marked by bold preventive-medicine initiatives, most notably the 2020 front-of-package food-labeling law, and decisive leadership during the COVID-19 crisis, when his daily briefings became a fixture of the national response.

Colleagues say Bar Siman-Tov’s calm under pressure, honed through pandemic-era coordination, was on full display this week. “His anticipatory action turned what could have been a massacre into a story we may barely remember,” a senior hospital official said.

As Soroka’s emergency crews clear rubble from the ward and life slowly returns to normal, Bar Siman-Tov’s gamble stands as a testament to foresight in the face of danger and a reminder that in times of crisis, experience can be the difference between tragedy and salvation. 

Jerusalem Post Staff

Source: https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/defense-news/article-858257

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